The Florist and The Bartender
by FossilRuins
Summary: After a devastating breakup, Clary is out of a place to stay. With the help of a coworker and her best friend, she ends up temporarily staying with a man she's never met- the rich and famous Jace Herondale. But with an ex out for vengeance and a secret life, this rooming arrangement may very quickly fall into disarray.
1. Red Rose

JACE'S POV

Isabelle rearranged the bouquet for the fourth time since Jace had arrived there. He rolled his eyes where he sat behind the counter. She always had to make sure that everything was just so.

"Izzy," he sighs. "It looks amazing so just stop already."

"To you, maybe," Isabelle says glaring at him. "But to my expert eye, it looks awful." She pushes a red rose behind a white one and then scowls. "Ugh!"

"Iz, you're going to die in this shop if you keep on worrying over such little details." Jace stands up and grabs his friend's purse. He thrusts it towards her but she makes no move to take it.

"I know," she replies. "That's what coworkers are for, but for the last several days, mine has been MIA." She puts her hands on her hips and cocks her head staring intently at the bouquet as though she could will it to look perfect with just her gaze. "Maybe, if I put this here..." she trails off moving the flowers around once again when the bell on the door to the flower shop rings as someone enters.

"How do you passive aggressively tell someone to fuck out with flowers?" A small red-headed girl shouts entering the store. Isabelle spins around and looks as though she's about to say something when the girl puts her hand up. "No, I know. Yellow lilies, because the color yellow is associated with friendship and lilies, are most commonly associated with death." She snaps out the last word as she angrily flings her bag onto the counter.

"Where have you been?" Isabelle questions and it's only then that Jace realizes this is the MIA coworker.

"Busy," she responds. There's a murderous glare in her eye that Jace guesses probably isn't meant for Isabelle but it's currently being directed at her. "I'm having problems at the moment and work hasn't necessarily been on my mind."

"Well, I've had to cover for you for almost a week now," Isabelle exclaims. "I've been calling you. Where's your phone?"

"Right now?" The girl asks. "Well, I'm guessing it's hit the bottom of the ocean by now."

"The bottom of the- Clary!" Isabelle throws her hands up. "Why? And how?"

"Let's just say that guys really do not appreciate you throwing their keys off a boat." Clary shrugs as if to say _who knew?_

"Is this about Sebastian?" Isabelle asks ignoring the bouquet she was working on and walking over to Clary. "I thought you broke up with him."

"I did," Clary says. "Why do you think there is now a set of keys and a phone at the bottom of the ocean?" Clary whirls away from Isabelle and stalks behind the counter. "But that's not important, what is important is that I'm back and you can stop covering for me."

"Clary, I'm worried about you," Isabelle leans over the edge of the counter. "Where are you going to live now? I mean, you've been dating that guy since you were in high school and you were engaged for almost a year." Clary looks down at her left hand solemnly, Jace follows her gaze to see a diamond ring still on her finger. "What are you going to do now?"

Clary throws up her hands. "How the hell am I supposed to know? But it's fine, I'll figure something out. I'll get a new apartment and-"

"How?" Isabelle cuts her off. "Didn't you spend most of your money on the wedding? You're a florist, albeit a rather good one at a high-end shop in New York, but a florist nonetheless. You don't have the money to get your own apartment right now."

"I'll figure it out!" Clary yells. She grabs her stuff and starts out of the shop. "Close up, I'll see you tomorrow." With that, she's left the store. Isabelle shakes her head and doesn't say anything for a couple of minutes.

"So," Jace says breaking the silence. Isabelle looks up like she had forgotten he was there. "We are officially ten minutes late to meet Alec..." Isabelle rolls her eyes and takes her purse from Jace. "I'm just saying, he's going to get mad at us. Mostly me, I'm never on time so you better explain that it wasn't my fault this time."

* * *

When they finally get to Isabelle's apartment where Alec was waiting for them with his husband, Magnus, they were over half an hour late. Jace had yelled at Isabelle the entire way there about how it was her fault and she just stayed silent the whole time making mocking faces at him.

"You're mean," Jace crosses his arms over his chest and pouts as he stands in the elevator.

Isabelle shakes her head hitting the button for her floor. "All I did was stick my tongue at you."

"Which is mean!" Jace yells. "You're a terrible person." He goes back to sulking.

"I'm _your_ terrible person," she says lovingly though sarcasm coats her words too. "And you love me."

"Only because you're my stupid sister," Jace mutters under his breath. They weren't related by blood, but Jace had been adopted into the Lightwood family when he was very young. Although, not literally adopted. He still had his own parents, he merely preferred the Lightwoods because their lives came with a lot less baggage than the Herondale fame and fortune.

The elevator stops and the two get off. They reach Isabelle's door but both freeze when they hear noise on the other side. Alec and Magnus were over and there was very distinct shouting. It didn't necessarily sound like the two were arguing though. Isabelle slowly unlocks and opens the door. When Jace sees what's on the other side, his jaw hits the floor.

"YOU GOT A KID?" Isabelle screams what Jace is thinking. Before them is Alec, Magnus, and a child that appears to be around the age of five. All three, even the kid, freeze and turn to the door when Isabelle screamed. Magnus then proceeds to take the opportunity to scoop up the child in his arms.

"Izzy! Jace!" Magnus exclaims happily trying to contain the child in his arms. "I'm so happy to see you guys. It's been so long.

"Backtrack," Jace says walking further into the apartment. "Who is this child? Did you guys adopt a child?"

"Surprise?" Alec says nervously. He walks forward and gives Isabelle then Jace a hug. "I know you guys weren't really expecting this, but meet Raphael Lightwood-Bane."

Isabelle glares at Alec for a moment before her face breaks out into a huge grin and she rushes towards Magnus. "Oh, I can't stay mad at you guys. Especially not for something as cute as this." She waves at the child but he seems awfully put off because he's being contained by Magnus.

Magnus sets Raphael down slowly and keeps his hands on his shoulders. "Raphy, say hi to your Aunt Izzy and Uncle Jace."

"He's adorable," Jace says. The word feels weird on his lips but it's the truth. Alec stands beside Jace and they watch as Isabelle makes weird faces at the kid. "Is this why you guys insisted on staying with Isabelle instead of me this visit? My apartment is too small?"

"Yeah," Alec nods. "You only have one spare room and, oddly enough, Raphael does not like to sleep in the same room as someone else." Jace raises an eyebrow and Alec shrugs. "It's weird, he's like the opposite of every other five-year-old in the entire world."

"I like him already," Jace laughs. "This is great, now I have someone to teach my ways to."

Alec turns on Jace. "You will teach my son nothing. I grew up with you, I know exactly what you plan on teaching him."

Jace's evil grin grows. "Oh come on, I'll be a great influence on him."

"If you ever try to give Raphael any advice ever I will personally take off your hand," Magnus pipes up. Jace frowns but knows that somehow he'll manage to teach the kid a thing or two.

"Daddy," Raphael says looking up at Magnus. "I'm thirsty."

"So precious," Isabelle whispers and looks like she's on the verge of tears.

"Of course, Raphy, one moment." Magnus walks off to the kitchen to get the boy something to drink.

"So," Isabelle says sitting on her couch. "How long do you two plan on staying in town this time?"

"Two weeks, maybe." Alec goes to sit beside Isabelle and picks up Raphael on his way. He sits the child on his knee. "If you need us out sooner we can just stay in a hotel. I have some business here for a while."

"Oh," Isabelle whines. "You'll hardly be able to spend time with us then. Please stay longer, I don't mind having you here."

"Yeah," Jace says. "Stay for a bit longer, we haven't seen you guys in months."

"Well," says Magnus giving Raphael a sippy cup. "We were in town for a couple of days about a month ago but you weren't here. That time you were the one away on business."

Jace thinks back to when he had to go home for a week because his father needed to discuss some things with him. He rolls his eyes at the memory. "Yeah, that one was on me, but it doesn't change the fact that you two are hardly around. Er, three now I guess."

"Fine," Alec says. "Magnus and I will talk about staying for another week or so later."

"Yay," Isabelle says hugging her brother from the side. "Guilt trips are so wonderful."

For the next few hours, the group catches up on what they've missed in each other's lives over the past few months. Alec's informs them that his and Isabelle's teenage brother, Max, hasn't gotten any better in the hospital. A year or so ago he was diagnosed with cancer but they had caught it really late and it had spread to most of his body. In other and happier news though, Alec and Magnus had closed on a brand new house and planned to have Jace and Isabelle over soon to see it. They lived over three hours away and were kept busy by work so they didn't often get to visit New York.

Even after a few years, it was strange for Jace to think that he didn't get to just see Alec whenever he wanted. Alec had been his best friend since they were babies practically. He considered him his brother for the twenty-plus years he'd known him and it was likewise for Isabelle and Max. When Magnus came into the picture Alec was away for college. Jace knew that something was up when he was suddenly getting less and less calls from Alec. Then, when he found out about Magnus he couldn't have been happier because he made Alec happy. When the two got married it was great, until they moved away. That wasn't so great.

Still, Jace had Isabelle just a few blocks down the street from his own apartment. The two spent most of their free time together and Jace knew that Isabelle thought it was because the only friends he had were the Lightwoods. Not that she was wrong, but he didn't like to think of himself as not a social person. He was social, he dated often. Well, not what Isabelle would call dating but she wasn't one to talk since her longest relationship was in the third grade when she got engaged to little Timmy and the next day they married during recess. Jace wondered if they ever broke up, if not that meant Isabelle was still married to little Timmy... wonder what happened to little Timmy...

Jace is torn from his thoughts when Isabelle hits him in the arm. He blinks curiously at her and she speaks.

"I said," she repeated. "Don't you have to leave soon? Your shift at the bar starts in an hour."

"Oh, right," Jace checks the time on his phone and stands up. "I'll see you guys tomorrow." He pats Alec on the back and rubs Raphael's head. "Bye little man."

He leaves the apartment sad to have to part with his friends and new nephew. When Jace arrives at the bar, the manager immediately catches up to him and starts speaking a mile a minute. If he were being honest, he wasn't even listening to the man. When he reaches the bar, Jace whirls around.

"Listen," he cuts the manager off. "I've told you before and I'll tell you again: I don't care. I don't own the place, so you really don't have to run everything by me."

"But-" he starts to say and Jace cuts him off again by putting up his hand.

"Don't own the place," he restates and the manager leaves with his head hung low like he did something wrong.

Jace shakes his head and takes his place behind the bar. He likes it here. As a bartender, he doesn't have to worry about all the details and finances. As a bartender, he doesn't have to worry about being a 'Herondale'. There are few things that Jace gets in his life that are solely his, and the freedom to just be a bartender is one of them.

**Hi! So, new story that I'm rather excited for. I haven't given up on 140 Years, don't worry. I just wanted to get this out.  
Anyway, please comment, follow, and favorite. Thanks!**


	2. Seven Beers

CLARY'S POV

"You're so unbelievable!" Clary yells into the phone. "How can you actually be saying this to me? Your own daughter!"

"Clarissa, just hear me out," Valentine, Clary's 'loving' father says. "You're being unreasonable. You love this man and-"

"No, I _loved_ him, past tense, and even then I don't think it was real love," Clary cuts him off. "And how am I being unreasonable? I caught my fiance cheating on me so I broke up with him. How is that in any way unreasonable?!"

"Darling, I just think-"

"You know what _I _think?" Clary snaps. "I think that I can't believe I got stuck with you when mom died!" Clary angrily hangs up the phone. She's close to smashing the phone on the ground when Simon, her best friend, comes in and stops her.

"Woah, woah, woah," he says taking the device out of her hand. "Let's not make both of us phoneless."

"Sorry," Clary sighs running a hand through her hair. She sits down on a chair and pulls her legs up under her. The two are in Simon's apartment right now. It's the middle of the day, so Simon's roommate is at work and it's just the two.

"It's okay," Simon pulls up another chair to sit in front of her. "I take it that conversation didn't go too well?"

"No," Clary leans back letting her head lay back so she stares at the ceiling. "He was being a complete ass about it like always. He thinks that I was being unreasonable to break it off with Sebastian." She groans from aggravation. "He cheated on me! I don't love him and I never did. Are those reasonable enough reasons?" Clary grabs one of the beers that Simon had brought in and pops the top off of it.

"I wouldn't say you never loved him," Simon says without hesitation. Clary glares at him daring him to continue. He does. "If you never loved him even a little, then why are you still wearing the ring?"

Clary opens her mouth but then closes it. She doesn't know why she hasn't taken the ring off yet. Maybe because she did love him just a tad. Clary shakes her head. Only Simon would dare to suggest such a thing to her and that's why they were best friends.

"I don't know," Clary finally says. "Because it's pretty? Because it reminds me of happier times? Maybe I still wear it because taking it off will make all this so much more real."

Simon leans forward and puts his hands on Clary's knees. "I know that what you're going through has got to be hard as hell." He looks right in her eyes praying that she can see the sympathy there. "And you know that I will always be there for you. Through it all, I will not leave your side."

Clary presses her forehead to Simon's and closes her eyes with a smile. "I know, thank you." She backs away from him with a sigh. "What am I going to do, Si? I don't have a place to stay and I honestly can't remember the last time I lived on my own."

Simon laughs. "Come on, you're Clarissa Adele Morgenstern. You can do anything you set your mind to."

"Too bad I can't set my mind to staying with you for a couple of weeks," Clary says casually and looks away from Simon. He crosses his arms over his chest and furrows his eyebrows at her.

"Come on," he says, "you know that's not fair. I would totally let you stay here if Jordan didn't have family in town for the next couple of weeks. There's no room."

"I know." Clary rolls her eyes wishing that Simon's roommate had less family. "I'll just have to guilt somebody into letting me stay with them."

"What about your coworker at the flower shop?" Simon suggests. "What's her name? Isabella? Ask her, she seems pretty nice."

"No," Clary shakes her head. "I don't want to bother Isabelle with my personal problems. She's already had to cover for me for the past week, I'm not going to put more on her and ask for a place to stay."

"Fine," Simon sighs. "I guess your brother was pretty mad when he heard what Sebastian did." Clary knows that Simon is trying to be nice and change the subject, but she sinks lower in her chair because instead of making it better he just made it worst. "No," Simon deadpans, "don't tell me you haven't told Jon. What's going to happen when he comes to town in a week expecting to stay with you and witness your freaking wedding!?"

"He's going to be mildly disappointed?" Clary shrugs. When Simon continues to glare, she sits back up. "I know I have to tell him but I don't know what to say! He's not going to react like dad, he's probably going to kill Sebastian."

"More reason to tell him sooner," Simon exclaims. He puts his hands on Clary's shoulders and shakes her a little. "Let our dreams of seeing him dead come true!"

Clary laughs pushing Simon's hands off her. "Okay, okay, I promise I'll tell Jon soon." She stands up checking the time. "But right now I've got to go. I have work."

"Fine." Simon stands and follows her out. "I'll drive you."

* * *

JACE'S POV

"No, Jace!" Isabelle exclaims at the boy. He follows her as she walks around the flower shop.

"Please, Izzy! Just for one night!" He puts his hands together begging her.

"Jace!"

"Isabelle!"

She stops and turns to him with her hands on her hips. "I am not going to pretend that I'm your date to some club just so you can get the attention of more girls."

"Come on," Jace pleads. "Everyone knows that women become ten times more interested when they think you're taken."

"And guys become less interested when they think there's a chance they're going to be beaten up by the large boyfriend of a girl they hit on," Isabelle rebuttals. "Besides, it's weird, you're like my brother."

Jace rolls his eyes as a customer walks in the store and Isabelle tries to help them. He follows her and continues to pester. "What if I did something for you in return? You scratch my back, I scratch yours?"

The customer glances at Jace with a raised eyebrow before continuing to look at flowers. Isabelle whacks Jace in the chest and hisses out a response to him. "If it'll get you off my back, then fine, I'll do it." Jace smiles widely. "But you owe me big."

"Of course," Jace nods. "You scratch my back, I scratch yours."

Isabelle ignores Jace after that and helps her customer find a bouquet. About ten minutes later, the redhead from the day before, Clary, enters. She doesn't look quite as angry as she was but she's definitely not happy.

"You're here," Isabelle says sounding surprised. She checks the clock. "An hour early."

"Yup," Clary smiles but it's very obviously forced and fake. "I figured that I need to start making up for the past week so I'll take over from here and you can get off early today."

"Awesome," Isabelle grabs her stuff and starts pulling Jace towards the door. "Maia should be here in an hour." That time, Jace knew the name of the other coworker of Isabelle's. He'd met that one before though. Clary nods and Isabelle and Jace are gone. Once they're outside, they're stopped by a boy with brown hair and glasses.

"You're Isabelle, right?" He says ignoring Jace's presence. "You work with Clary?"

"Yes," Isabelle responds hesitantly. "Why? Who are you?"

"I'm Clary's best friend, my name is Simon Lewis." He glances through the window of the shop and then pulls Isabelle a little over to the side so they were out of view of the window. "Listen, Clary would kill me if she knew I was doing this, but she's in a really bad place right now. She has too much pride to ask- and as I said, she'd kill me if she knew I was doing this- but she needs a place to stay. I know that you two aren't super close but you seem really nice and I was just hoping you could help her out for just two or so weeks. I would let her stay with me, but my roommate has family over."

Isabelle shakes her head. "I'm sorry, my brother is staying over for the next few weeks and I have no room." She pauses and then a smile slowly grows on her face. Jace knows that smile, he's seen that evil smile too many times to count. "But I do know someone who has a spare bedroom in their apartment and owes me a favor."

"You do?" Jace asks from behind Isabelle. "Who?" She turns around and her smile impossibly grows. Jace's eyes go wide and he shakes his head. "No, no, no. I am not letting some girl that I don't even know stay at my place."

"Why not?" Isabelle says. "You do it all the time with tramps you pick up at clubs." Jace opens his mouth but Isabelle holds up her hand stopping him. "I scratch your back, you scratch mine. You owe me one, Jace, and I am calling that favor in now."

Jace glares at Isabelle for a moment longer before throwing his arms up. "Fine!" He exclaims. "But I hate you."

"Awesome," Simon says. "Now... who are you?"

"Isabelle's brother," Jace sighs. "The name's Jace."

"Nice to meet you, Jace." Simon holds out his hand but Jace doesn't shake it. After a moment he clears his throat bringing his hand back down. "Thank you so much, Isabelle. I promise that I'll pay you back for this."

"You'll pay _me _back," Jace corrects but Isabelle pushes his face back with her hand.

"No, because you're doing this as a favor for me." She turns back to Simon. "Don't even worry about it. I've known Clary for over two years, she's never been as miserable as she is now. Me helping out is free."

"You're amazing," Simon laughs. "I'll tell her about this tomorrow, that's when my roommate's family arrives. I should get going but once again thank you."

"Oh, first," Isabelle says stopping Simon from leaving. "Give me your number since Clary's phone is in the ocean." Simon laughs and takes Isabelle's phone to put in his number. After that, he turns and walks away.

Jace starts towards his car scowling. Isabelle follows and rolls her eyes. "You promised me a favor. You should have known I was going to come up with something insane. You can't be mad at me. Jace!"

"Two weeks." He spins around to face Isabelle and opens up his car door. "She can stay with me for two weeks. Deal?"

Isabelle smiles and holds out her hand for Jace to shake. "Deal."

Jace takes Isabelle's hand, shakes once, then slams the door of his car and drives off.

* * *

At work that night, Jace mixes a drink for a rather attractive girl. She scrawls out her phone number on a napkin and pushes it towards Jace with a wink. He flirtatiously smirks back and sticks it on a shelf under the bar where it sits with a dozen other numbered napkins. He sighs as he walks down the bar checking for other customers. That's when she catches his eye. He didn't know when she had come in, but there she sat downing a beer like it was the last one in the entire freaking world.

"Clary, right?" Jace asks reaching the redhead. She looks up at him, her green eyes burning with sadness.

"Do I know you?" She replies resting her forearms on the counter of the bar.

"I'm Isabelle's brother," he says. "I was there the other day when you came into the flower shop." When she shows no sign of recognition, he continues. "I was there _today_ when you came into the flower shop." Clary shrugs shaking her head and Jace scoffs. "Right... well, I'm Jace."

"Don't bother introducing yourself," Clary says taking another swig of her drink. "I've already had seven of these and about six shots. I won't remember you tomorrow."

Jace narrows his eyes. She doesn't look drunk, but then again he has no idea how long she's been here for or how much she's had to drink. He decides it might be a good idea to cut her off. "Slow down there, I don't think my sister would appreciate it if I let her coworker get alcohol poisoning on my watch."

"You're not the boss of me," Clary says and this time Jace hears the slur in her words. He shakes his head and takes the half-empty bottle from her.

"No, I'm not, but it's sort of my job to make sure nobody here dies. I'd get fired if I failed and possibly arrested. So, why don't we call you a cab and you can go home." Jace takes out his phone as Clary stands up. She wobbles momentarily before regaining her balance.

"I'm fine," she insists. "I'll just drive home." She starts to leave and it's obvious her judgment is off because she is not walking in a straight line.

"Shit," Jace whispers. He runs after her and catches up as she gets outside. He grabs her arm stopping her. "You are not driving in this condition."

"I'm not leaving my bike here." She crosses her arms over her chest. Jace narrows his eyes and looks out at the parking lot. When he catches sight of the maroon Harley, he sighs.

"I can promise you that your bike will still be here in the morning," he says but Clary rolls her eyes. "Listen, you're just going to have to settle because there is no way in heaven or hell that I'm letting you drive- especially a motorcycle- home in this condition."

"Well I'm not getting in a cab," Clary firmly stands there not willing to move or change her mind.

Jace runs a hand through his hair and throws his arms up in exasperation. "It's a good thing you're not going to remember this in the morning," he mutters to himself. Then, he lifts Clary up by her waist and throws her over his shoulders. She shouts protests and kicks at him as he shoves her in the backseat of his own car, a silver 2017 Ford Mustang- a present from his father from his twenty-fifth birthday. He's thankful nobody is in the parking lot or else they might assume he's kidnapping Clary.

Jace closes the door and thinks a moment. "Alright, where does Simon live? How the hell should I know? Oh! Isabelle has his phone number. Perfect." Jace shakes his head at himself for speaking aloud to nobody and calls Isabelle. She answers on the fourth ring.

"What?"

"Well, aren't you polite at twelve at night?" Jace says. Isabelle's voice is layered with sleep and annoyance.

"What do you want, Jace?"

"I have a situation," Jace sighs. "I'm only in this situation because of you, might I add, because I knew you would be mad at me if I didn't get into said situation."

"What is the situation?!"

"Clary was at my bar." At the words, Isabelle groans. "She's really drunk and not fit to drive home so I threw her in my car and now I need Simon's address so I can drop her ass off."

"You're a saint," Isabelle sighs and Jace hears shuffling as she sits up in her a bed.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Jace walks around to the other side of his car and gets in the front seat. He glances back at Clary, she's passed out. "Just hurry, please."

Isabelle hangs up and a few minutes later sends Jace an address. He arrives in just a few minutes and swings Clary back over his shoulder as he walks up to the apartment number. It takes three times knocking and a full five minutes before someone that's not Simon answers.

"Hi," Jace says letting the aggravation show in his voice. "Does Simon Lewis live here?"

"Yeah..." The guy notices Clary on Jace's shoulder and his eyebrows shoot up. "Is that Clary?" He looks startled.

"Oh great." Jace shifts so he's carrying Clary like a baby and he holds her out to the other guy. "You know her. Now, if you don't mind, I have somewhere to go so if you could just take her that'd be great."

"Umm," the guy lets Clary slip into his arms. He retreats into the apartment and Jace can see him lay her down on a couch. When he returns, he scratches his head. "Thanks for returning her safely. If you don't mind me asking, who are you?"

"Someone that was never here." Jace tips a pretend fedora and leaves. When he gets back to the bar, he waits to be yelled at for leaving without telling anyone. In fact, he hopes to be yelled at. He purposefully places himself in the direct line of sight of the manager, but instead of coming over and scolding him or at the very least giving him a harsh glare, the man only glances momentarily in his direction before turning the other way. Jace sighs and gets back to work.


	3. Yellow Lilies

CLARY'S POV

When Clary woke up, she was in Simon's apartment. She had no idea how she got there but that didn't necessarily surprise her. She remembered nothing from the night before and her head was pounding. The clock read ten and Clary groaned loudly. She had to be at work in a half hour.

"Oh good," Jordan's voice startles Clary so much that she falls off the couch. "You're awake."

"And you scared me," Clary says pushing herself onto her feet. "Would you please not yell?"

"Darling, I'm hardly whispering." Jordan shakes his head walking over to Clary with a cup of coffee and handing it to her. "You have issues."

"No shit," Clary replies taking a large gulp of the steaming beverage. "Or else I wouldn't have been out drinking last night and this headache wouldn't exist. Now, if you don't mind I need to get dressed and go to work."

"I don't think that's going to work out too well for you," Jordan calls stopping Clary midstride. She turns back to him with narrowed eyes.

"And why not?"

"Because someone dropped you off here last night. You are without transportation. If I had to guess I'd say your Harley is at the bar still." Jordan has a smug smirk on his face that Clary would give anything to smack off.

"Perfect," she groans. "How am I supposed to get to work?"

"I promised Simon that I'd take you," Jordan says. "I have to go that way on my way to the airport anyway, so it's no big deal. Get dressed and let's go."

Twenty-seven minutes later, Clary is opening the door to the flower shop. Isabelle smiles her way as she helps out a customer. She sets down her things and is completely settled in just as Isabelle finishes with the customer. She comes over to Clary and sets a large bouquet of yellow lilies on the counter. Clary raises an eyebrow and Isabelle grins.

"You requested a bouquet to passive-aggressively tell someone to fuck off?" She smiles trying to lighten the mood. Clary picks up the bouquet and smiles back.

"Thanks," she says, "I'll send these off to my dad right away with a note expressing each and every one of my deepest most hidden thoughts about what I think of him."

Isabelle's smile falls and is replaced with a worried frown. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

"Not really," Clary says forcing another smile onto her face. "I'll be fine, I just need some time."

Isabelle nods but seems to be holding something back. "Have you talked to your friend today? Simon?"

"How do you know Simon?"

"Not important." Isabelle waves a dismissive hand. "Have you talked to him?"

Clary shakes her head. "No, he was gone before I woke up."

"Alright, well, text me after you talk to him." Isabelle grabs her stuff and heads for the door. "I'll see you later, girl."

"Bye," Clary crosses her arms over her chest wondering what Isabelle was just alluding to. Why did she need to talk to Simon? And how did she know Simon in the first place?

* * *

JACE'S POV

"Alright, Raphael," Jace plops down on the couch beside the five-year-old. Cartoons are playing on the tv and the kid is sucking on a sippy cup. "What do you want to do today? Race cars? Go cliff-jumping? Oh, you know what? I've got connections, we can go skiing in the Alpine Meadows. You ever been to California, kid?"

Raphael shushes Jace and turns back to the tv. "Spongebob is on."

"Oh, my bad," Jace turns and watches as the yellow square wrecks havoc upon his underwater city. The two sit there for the next half hour before Magnus enters holding bags of groceries.

"There's my favorite little man," he says smiling.

Jace stands up putting a hand over his heart. "Oh Magnus, you don't have to say that. We all know I'm your favorite but Alec might get jealous."

Magnus whacks Jace upside the head and ruffles Raphael's hair. He sets down his things in the kitchen before rejoining the two boys by the couch.

"When is Alec getting back from his meeting?" He wonders sitting on the armrest of the couch.

"A couple hours," Jace replies. "I was hoping you'd be gone longer too so I could have more time with my dude before you snatched him from me." Jace turns his nose up at Magnus who proceeds to shake his head.

"You will have plenty of time to be with him in the weeks to come," he states. "But for now, Raphy is mine." Magnus scoops the child up and he laughs. Magnus puts Raphael on his shoulders holding tight to his legs. Jace walks over and boops Raphael on the nose. He giggles more.

"Fine," Jace makes a face at Raphael making him laugh even more. "I have to go back to my apartment soon anyway. Izzy tricked me and now I have to let one of her friends use my spare bedroom for the next couple weeks."

"How did she trick you?" Magnus' eyebrow shoots up.

Jace clears his throat looking at the ground. "Umm... I told her that if she pretended to be my date to a club that I would owe her one." Magnus laughs and Jace scowls up at him. "I didn't expect her to cash in the favor so quickly! Literally right after it was made she was forcing me to do this."

"You got played, Herondale. You got played hard."

"Shut up, Bane." Jace grabs his jacket giving Raphael one more sweet look before heading out the door.

As he got back to his apartment complex, Jace's phone went off. He answered the call walking into the building.

"Jace?" Isabelle asked.

"What's up?"

"Are you home right now?"

"Entering the elevator as we speak. Why?"

"I've got Clary with me. We're on the way to your place." She paused and Jace could sense the tension on the other side of the line. When Isabelle continued, he knew why. "She may be just a tad bit... furious."

* * *

CLARY'S POV

"Hey!" Simon greets Clary cheerfully as he enters the flower shop. She had been gathering her things to leave.

"Hey, Si. What are you doing here?" She glances around to see that the people in the shop are on the other side of the store and Maia, who had arrived promptly ten minutes earlier, was with them.

"I need to talk to you."

What Isabelle had said earlier suddenly came rushing back to her. Clary ran a hand through her hair. "What about?"

"Well, do you remember when you told me that you didn't want to stay with Isabelle?" Simon speaks nervously and Clary's eyes widen.

"You didn't," she whisper yells. "I can't believe you would-"

"I didn't!" Simon cuts her off with fear in his eyes. "I mean, I tried but she's got family over and doesn't have room."

"Then what?" Clary crosses her arms over her chest glaring down Simon.

"I managed to get you a room with her brother?" It comes out like a question. "Surprise?"

"Simon!" Clary yells and he puts up his hands to quiet her. She rolls her eyes but doesn't want to cause a scene. "You did what? I told you that I would figure it out for myself."

"I know that you want to prove you can be strong and independent, but Clare, you just found out your fiance was cheating on you, then you called off the wedding leaving you with no place to stay." Simon's look is pleading now. "I already told you that I'm worried about you. I know that you are strong. You are the strongest person in all of New York City, but that doesn't mean you can just let yourself be homeless. It's not a big deal, just think of it like having a roommate. Please, Clary."

Clary taps her foot rapidly as she tries to keep the anger at bay. After staring into her best friend's puppy dog eyes for another minute, she throws up her hands and groans. "Fine!"

"Thank you!" Simon puts his hands together and looks up with relief.

"What-" Clary starts to say, but the door opens then and Isabelle walks in. She immediately turns her glare on the raven-haired girl who then freezes mid-stride. "You," Clary growls.

"Oh," Isabelle smiles nodding. "You told her." She walks over to the two like absolutely nothing is wrong.

"Yes, he told me," Clary says. "And I cannot believe you would do something like this."

"Why not?" Isabelle furrows her eyebrows confused. "I'm me." She puts her hands on Clary's shoulders and smiles wide. "Listen, we both just want what's best for you. Plus, there can't be this kind of negativity inside of a flower shop. This place is supposed to be happy and bright."

Clary's frown says the exact opposite of that. "Well," she says, "if someone ever wants yellow lilies then I guess you can call me in."

"Come on," Isabelle calls as Clary walks away from her. "You know that's not what I mean. This little arrangement is temporary and I promise that you won't even notice Jace is there. He's probably going to be with our new nephew the entire time."

"I can't very well say no, can I?" Clary rolls her eyes. Isabelle and Simon both shake their heads, smiles growing on their faces. Clary grabs her keys and wallet and shoves them in her pockets. "Bye Maia!" She calls out. The other girl turns and waves before returning to her customer. Clary exits the shop with Simon and Isabelle. "First, we need to go to the bar."

"Why?" Simon asks.

"My bike is there," Clary says. "Once we get it, we can go to James' place or whatever his name is."

"Jace," Isabelle corrects. "And I'd remember it if I were you because if you start calling him by the wrong name then there is no doubt in my mind that he will think of and use every possible weird name that even resembles 'Clary' at all."

"Wonderful," Clary says getting into Isabelle's car. "Then I'll be sure to call him Jake, Jack, Lace, Mace, Chase, Jan, Jane, Joe, and Jimothy."

"Some of those are girl names," Isabelle says as they start driving. "Other's aren't even names." She pauses for a moment and then the last name Clary had said hits her. "Jimothy?"

Clary shrugs. "It's a combo of Jim and Timothy. Back when Simon and I were in high school there was this senior prank involving a large golden Sphinx head. We named him Jimothy."

Isabelle glances between the road and Clary. "Okay then. Well, I'm just glad that you're in a better mood now."

"Better mood?" Clary almost laughs. "You must be blind, Iz because I am still pissed at you and Simon, I've just realized that there's no way I'm getting out of this. Which, might I add, has made me ever so angrier."

"Well," Isabelle laughs nervously, "isn't that just peachy."

When they get to the bar. Clary finds her bike immediately and gives it a hug. She walks it back over to Isabelle just to catch the last word of the phone call she's on.

"...furious." She smiles at Clary as whoever's on the other line responds. "Yup, see you in a bit." Isabelle hangs up the phone and turns to Clary. "You ready to go?"

"I should probably head back to Simon's to get the few things I have," Clary says getting onto her bike.

"He's going to bring your stuff over in a bit," Isabelle says. "Don't worry about it."

Clary shoots her a lazy thumbs up before putting on her helmet and revving the engine. Isabelle gets in the car and soon Clary is following Isabelle through the streets of New York. It takes only ten minutes before they arrive at a rather nice apartment complex. Clary parks beside Isabelle and takes off her helmet looking up at the building with a sigh.

"Come on," Isabelle takes Clary by the wrist and pulls her along. "Let's go up."

They go up to the second to highest floor and down a series of halls to reach the door that Clary would be living behind for the next two weeks. Isabelle unlocks the door and gestures for Clary to walk in. She runs a hand through her hair as she lets out an appreciative whistle. The noise draws a man from a hallway and Clary's eyebrows shoot up at the sight of him. His hair, his eyes, and even his skin are golden. He raises an eyebrow back at Clary and she turns to Isabelle with a smile.

"You know what?" She says chuckling. "He kind of looks like Jimothy too."

Isabelle stifles a laugh and motions to Jace. "Clary this is Jace, Jace this is Clary. Please don't kill each other. It's only now that I'm realizing I am sticking two large personalities in one apartment." Both Jace and Clary turn to Isabelle then and her petrified expression suddenly becomes one of obvious fake enthusiasm. "Anyway! I'd better get going. So, good luck." She chuckles and then spins on her heel and quickly leaves the room.

Once the door is closed, the place goes silent. Apparently, neither knows what to say as they stand on opposite sides of the room. Jace shoves his hands in his pockets as Clary takes the first steps and starts looking around.

"Nice place," she says.

"Thanks," Jace replies. He scratches his head. "Your room is down this hall to the right. Bathroom's to the left." There's a long uncomfortable pause and then, "what did you call me to Isabelle?"

Clary smirks and shrugs. "No idea what you're talking about." She walks past him down to where he said her room is. She stops at the door and looks back at Jace. "Nice to meet you, Jimothy." She winks and then closes the door behind her.


	4. Cheap Liquor

JACE'S POV

"Alright," Clary says as she enters the living room. She's holding a notebook and a pencil as she sits down in a chair. Jace leans back on his couch. "First things first, let's come up with some rules."

"Rules?" Jace questions. He mutes the tv curious as to what rules Clary wants to make.

"Yes, rules," she reiterates. "For instance, after you pee you have to put the seat down."

Jace laughs. "I think you're forgetting that this is my apartment." He leans forward leveling his gaze with Clary's. "If anything, you should be putting the seat up after you use it."

"Let's think rationally for a moment," Clary says not backing down. "When I go to the bathroom the toilet is down one-hundred percent of the time. For you, it's down fifty percent of the time. Doesn't it make more sense if the position of the toilet seat is ready for what's to take place there seventy-five percent of the time?"

Jace thinks about it but knows there's nothing he can say to win this argument. "Fine," he rolls his eyes, "toilet seat down."

"Wonderful," Clary says and writes something down. "Next thing I want to clarify is that I _will_ be paying rent while I'm here."

"No," Jace shakes his head. "You're only going to be here for a couple of weeks. There's really no point to it."

"In those two weeks, I'll be using your utilities, eating your food, and sleeping in your apartment." Clary's gaze is steely. Clearly, this is something she feels strongly about. "I'm not going to be bum while I'm here. I have a job."

"I don't need the money," Jace argues. "Honestly, you don't need to pay for anything. You won't even be here long enough for the rent to come in."

"Jimothy, listen." Jace opens his mouth to question the name but Clary continues before he can. "I do not care if you need the money, I do not care how long I will be staying here. I'm going to pay for something."

Jace sighs. "That's completely ridiculous but fine, you can pay for groceries. I don't know what kind of food you eat anyway."

"I eat food," Clary says. "Just food. But perfect, I can settle on that." She scribbles down something else and before she can bring up anything else, Jace speaks.

"Third," he says and she scowls but stays silent. "If there is a sock on the front door, do not come inside the apartment. Or if you do choose to come inside the apartment, be silent and don't leave your room. For both our sakes."

Clary rolls her eyes and writes something else down. "Why am I not surprised by that statement? Anything else?"

"Yeah, give me your number." Jace holds out his hand beckoning for Clary's phone. "If there is some sort of emergency we might need to get a hold of each fast."

Clary merely raises her eyebrows at him. "Well, I would most certainly do that if I could but I can't because I don't have a phone."

"Right," says Jace. "It's at the bottom of the ocean."

Clary smiles looking irritated. "Precisely, now I just have one last request," she says. Jace motions for her to continue. "Don't be loud at night."

"I work at a bar," Jace says. "I get home at two in the morning and then I sleep until ten. Don't worry, I'm not noisy."

"Then I guess that's all," Clary says. "Pleasure doing business with you, Jimothy." She stands up and Jace crosses his arms over his chest as she starts to go back to her room.

"One more thing," he says turning around. Clary stops and turns to him. "Jimothy? Why?"

She merely shrugs. "Wouldn't you like to know." She continues on and Jace just shakes his head.

"Whatever, freckles." Clary stops walking momentarily but doesn't turn back around. She shakes her head and goes back into her room.

Jace stands from his couch and heads for the door. He opens it to be surprised by Simon standing on the other side, his hand raised ready to knock. Jace steps past him taking noticing of the duffle bag he has in his arms.

"I was just leaving. She's in her room," he says. Simon doesn't get out a word before Jace is on his way again. He drives down to Isabelle's apartment knowing that Alec should be back there by now.

He arrived at Isabelle's just as the sun had set. He would soon have to be off to work but first wanted to see his brother. If Isabelle had yet to tell him, he was sure to get a kick out of Jace's new living situation. Alec would take every chance he could get to tease Jace, and considering that he didn't get that chance a lot, he enjoyed it.

Jace enters without knocking to find the man he was looking for sitting on the couch with his head back. He looks up when the door closes and gives Jace a nod of acknowledgment.

"Long day?" He asks sitting beside Alec.

"You have no idea," Alec replies.

"Well, this should certainly brighten your mood," Jace says and Alec peers over at him curiously. "As of today, I'm finding myself in quite an interesting situation. You see, Isabelle's coworker and good friend has come in the need for a place to stay for the next couple weeks and, being the fool that I am, I owed Isabelle one favor. Well, needless to say, that favor is now being nullified."

Alec laughs. "Oh you're right, that does brighten my mood."

Jace shrugs. "I thought it might. Not only that, but this girl just moved in today and she's taken to calling me 'Jimothy.'"

"Jimothy?"

"Yes, Jimothy."

"Why on earth does she call you Jimothy?"

Jace shakes his head looking baffled. "Hell if I know. She hasn't actually spoken my name yet, I'm only Jimothy."

"Gossiping about Clary, are we?" Isabelle says as she enters the room. She glances back at the boys as she heads to the kitchen.

"I'm just telling Alec what's going on in my life," Jace responds. "It's only been a few hours and I can already tell that Clary's an... interesting individual." He turns back to Alec to say the next part. "She tried insisting on paying rent."

At that, Alec almost chokes on the air holding back a laugh. "Really? Does she not know what your last name is?"

"I'm pretty sure she thinks I'm Isabelle's biological brother," Jace says and Izzy glances back again. "Either that or she merely doesn't care about the fact that my family is one of the richest in all of America."

"I've given her no reason to believe you're not a Lightwood," Isabelle says. She stalks over to the living room and leans against the wall. "I know how much you hate it when people find out you're a billionaire."

"My father," Jace corrects. "Is a billionaire. I take none of his money."

"And the Mustang you drive around?" Alec questions.

Jace rolls his eyes. "That was a gift. Who am I to deny a birthday present?"

"Of course," Isabelle chuckles. "You're just a lowly bartender who serves cheap liquor and that lives in an upper-middle class apartment in Brooklyn, New York. You're just a nobody, Herondale."

"I pay that rent with my own money," Jace reminds her. He scoffs looking back and forth between the two. "And that liquor is not cheap! And I mean, I pay for my own car insurance, my own groceries, my hobbies. The only things I don't pay for are the flights for business/family trips. Those and the presents that my father insists on giving to me. You guys know this."

"Yes, we do know," Alec pats Jace's shoulder. "We're sorry for pushing your buttons, it's just so much fun."

"And besides," Isabelle adds. "You're money hardly does define you. Even without spending it freely you're still an arrogant prick." Jace grabs a throw-pillow from the couch and uses it for it's named purpose. It flies towards Isabelle's head and she ducks at the last moment. "Well, that wasn't very nice."

"According to you I'm not very nice," Jace replies though he's smiling. "What was it you just said? I'm an arrogant prick? Yes, I believe those were the exact words." At the last sentence, Jace grabs another pillow and throws it. Isabelle doesn't have time to duck and gets hit in the stomach. She picks the pillow up and throws it right back at Jace. He catches it and then proceeds to stick his tongue out at Isabelle.

"You two are so immature," Alec shakes his head. "You're both twenty-five now. Grow up a little."

Isabelle takes the first pillow Jace had thrown at her and whips it towards Alec. It catches him off guard and hits him right in the face. "Never!" Isabelle exclaims. Alec says nothing for a long moment before springing up from his seat and running towards Isabelle. She sprints off with a squeal, but Alec catches her and picks her up. Jace watches as Alec drags the kicking girl down the hall and to her room. He tosses her on her bed and then exits the room holding the door tightly shut behind him. Isabelle pounds on it and yells at them from the other side.

"Well," Jace grins watching Alec struggle to keep the door closed. "This brings back memories of our childhood."

"Yup," Alec says sounding strained. "I can remember the three of us in this exact same situation over ten years ago except there wasn't a sleeping child and man in the other room. I also remember Isabelle being weaker." He adds the last part after she almost gets the door open.

Jace laughs shaking his head. "Perhaps that's just you getting weaker."

"What are you trying to say, Herondale?" Jace knows that Alec is trying to be intimidating right now, but it's rather hard to take him seriously when he's struggling like this.

"I'm saying that time has not bode well for you, Lightwood. Maybe you should hit the gym a little more often." Jace's smile widens as Alec says nothing and tries to keep the door closed. After a minute, though, he sighs and lets go.

"Screw it," he says. Then, he's chasing Jace around the apartment yelling slurs that should probably not be said in the same house as a five-year-old. Isabelle pokes her head out of her room curious as to why Alec stopped keeping her locked in, but when the boys sprint by through the hallway, she leaps back in with a startled yelp.

The chase goes on for a few minutes before there's a loud whistle stopping both boys in their tracks. They turn slowly, panting from being out of breath, and find Magnus standing with his hands on his hips and a scowl firmly set on his face.

"You both do realize there was a sleeping child in there, right?" He points to the room that has become Raphael's.

"Sorry," Jace says. "I hope we didn't wake him."

"'Was' was my key word there, Jonathon. He's awake and so am I." Magnus shakes his head at the two before turning and going into Raphael's room.

"Oops," Alec says sheepishly. "I should probably go and help with that."

Jace laughs. "And I should probably get to work. I'll see you later, man." Jace pulls Alec into a hug and waves bye to Isabelle.

* * *

CLARY'S POV

"Thank you," Clary says as Simon sets down the duffle bag of her things in her new room. He merely nods and looks around. "I'll have to call Sebastian to get the rest of my stuff, but I don't think I'll do that until I have a permanent place."

"Probably a smart idea," Simon agrees. He sits down on the bed and pats the space beside him for Clary to sit. "I'm sorry that I'm doing this to you but-"

"It's for my own good," Clary finishes. She's far less angry than she had been earlier now that she's had some time to process what Simon did. "I know. And thank you. I don't think I've had the chance to say that yet. You're my best friend, Simon, and I appreciate you looking out for me."

"You're my sister," Simon wraps an arm around Clary's shoulder. "I'd do anything for you."

"Good," Clary sighs. "Because I need to talk to Sebastian but I don't want to talk to him until I have to talk with him so I need someone to set up a time for me to talk to him."

"That sounds like a lot of talking that neither of us wants to do," Simon says with a dorky smile. Clary lightly punches him in the shoulder and when she retracts her hand her eye catches the glimpse of her ring as it glitters in the light.

"Yeah," she says. "I just don't know if I can handle speaking with him right at this moment. The sooner the better, of course, so I'm thinking in a few days. Just, text him for me and then give me a heads up when he's coming?"

Simon nods. "No problem."

"Great, and in the meantime," Clary takes out a card and a pen. The front of the card says _'Sorry you were wrong' _with a rather angry looking cat on it. "Why don't we write a note to my father expressing how much I appreciate how supportive he's been this past week?"

Simon laughs. "Oh lord, I can already tell that this is not going to be pretty. Don't be too mean or else he won't get you anything for your birthday in a week."

Clary rolls her eyes. "I'd be blessed if he just ignored my birthday all together. I already know what I'm doing then anyway, Jon flies here that day so you, me, and him are going out for dinner. That'll be all."

"Sounds perfect," Simon says. He takes the card from Clary and opens it looking down at the blank page thoughtfully. "Now, what to write?"

**Hey guys, hope y'all liked this chapter! Please be sure to comment your thoughts. I love reading what y'all think!**


	5. Purple Lilacs

**So, real fast, shout out to the person who so kindly pointed out to me that my story was TITLED WRONG. Sometimes I think I'm losing my mind, but it was supposed to say "Bartender" and has been corrected. So... thanks! And hope you like the chapter. **

JACE'S POV

The next day, Jace forgets about his roommate arrangement. He leaves his room around seven in the morning wearing nothing but a pair of boxers and stops dead in his tracks when he comes across Clary sitting at the kitchen island sipping a cup of coffee. She glances up at him unfazed.

"Good morning," she says impatiently after Jace says nothing. He shakes himself from his little daze and continues into the kitchen to get his own cup of coffee.

"Morning," he mumbles back. He pours the freshly brewed coffee into his favorite mug and as he's about to add half 'n half, he notices how dark Clary's drink is. "Do you drink that black?" he questions.

Clary looks into her cup and shrugs. "Yes, only sissies have to add milk and sugar."

Jace scoffs. "Oh please, black coffee is disgusting. Only people without souls can take it like that. Although, I do suppose that would explain the hair color."

Clary gapes. "Well, if we're going for stereotypes then I'd have to point out that being blonde isn't much better." She crosses her arms. "After all, only a blonde would put the toilet paper roll on facing the inside."

"I have a reason for that," Jace says pointing the spoon he had been using to mix his coffee at her. "You do not put the toilet paper roll facing the outside when you have a cat. It is a set up for disaster."

"You don't have a cat."

"You're right, I don't have a cat, but I am catsitting one."

Clary looks around for a moment before returning her disbelieving gaze to Jace. "I don't see a cat."

"That's probably because he saw your red hair and got scared you were going to steal his soul." Clary scowls at Jace but before she can rebuttal he puts his fingers to his lips and whistles. "Church!" After a few seconds, a fluffy cat appears around the corner and hops up on the island. Clary jumps a little clearly not having believed Jace at all. "Meet Church, my neighbor Jem's cat."

"Oh," Clary holds out her hand to let Church sniff her. He nuzzles his head into her palm and Jace frowns. "Well, hi Church."

"That's not fair," Jace says, "it took him almost a month to start liking me."

Clary shrugs with a smirk as she scratches Church's head. "Maybe it's because I stole his soul."

Jace rolls his eyes. "Like he had one to begin with." He takes his mug and walks over to the couch. The whole reason that he'd gotten up so early was to watch the morning cartoons. Clary watches the tv as Jace clicks it on to Nickelodeon.

"Really?" she questions, "you're a twenty-something man and you still watch cartoons?"

"Abso-freaking-lutely," Jace replies. He puts one foot on the coffee table and crosses his other over the first. "Cartoons are the best part of life."

"Didn't you say that you're a bartender too?" Clary sits on the edge of the couch and squints at the screen. "This is probably the last thing I'd expect you to watch."

"What do you expect me to watch?" Jace raises an eyebrow turning to Clary. "Baywatch?"

Clary shrugs. "Well, it's not that bad of a movie. You know, if you're into that sort of thing."

Jace shakes his head and returns his gaze to the tv. "Yeah, extremely hot and fit young adults running around half naked- who'd be into that?"

"I don't need this sort of sass in my life," Clary says, her voice riddled with sarcasm. She stands up and puts her hands up defensively.

"As long as you're under my roof," Jace says, "you're dealing with my sass."

"Well then." Clary sets down her mug on the coffee table and walks to the front door. She opens it and takes one step outside before turning back around so she can see Jace. "Looks like I don't have to deal with your sass."

Jace stands up and walks over to the door. He takes the door in one of his hands and smiles down at Clary. She furrows her eyebrows confused before Jace closes the door on her and then walks back over to the couch. He sits casually and speaks loud enough for her to hear. "And now, I don't have to deal with yours."

The door opens and Jace raises an eyebrow at Clary. She scowls as she grabs her purse off the coat rack. "I forgot my purse," she says still scowling. Jace just nods as Clary leaves the apartment once again. Church walks up to the door and mews loudly as if he's sad that she's gone. Jace shakes his head at the cat with a sigh.

"Sure," he says aloud, "a pretty girl stays over for just one night and all of a sudden you're super sweet. You've known me for almost two years and you still hiss when I enter the room." Church meows almost angrily at Jace before walking out of the room. "That's right!" Jace yells after the cat. "Walk away!" He crosses his arms over his chest when he turns back to the tv and he mutters under his breath. "Ungrateful little ball of fur."

* * *

CLARY'S POV

Clary stands outside of the flower shop with her hands in her pockets as the crisp August wind blows in her face. She bounces on the balls of her feet impatiently. When Isabelle arrives, she's frowning and pulling a hat lower on her face.

"Clary, why did you call me on a Sunday morning when the shop isn't even open?" Isabelle questions. "We are not working today. I wanted to sleep in." Even as she says this, Izzy's gaze goes to the purple lilacs in the window with clear longing in her eyes to be with the flowers. The girl shakes her head though and turns back to Clary.

"I think you'll like what I have planned a bit more than sleeping in," Clary says and Isabelle's eyebrows immediately raise in curiosity. She shivers as another breeze comes by and waves for Clary to follow her.

"Alright, come on, let's get in my car. It's far too cold out." She leads Clary just down the street to where she's parked and the two get in. She turns on the heat and Clary is immediately relieved to be out of the cold. "Okay, what's up? Oh, how was your first night at Jace's?" She changes the subject on herself like a kid that just saw something shiny.

Clary waves a dismissive hand. "It was fine, we can talk about that later. Listen, I want to get back at Sebastian and my dad because one's a cheater and the other's a prick so-" Clary lifts a couple of credit cards and Isabelle's eyes light up. "I was thinking you could take me shopping. I doubt that Seb has canceled this card yet and my dad would never so..."

"I would love to!" Isabelle exclaims. She lets out a squeal that startles Clary. "You have no idea how badly I've been wanting to take you out shopping. A few months back I ran into Maia in the city and we went shopping for a bit and ever since then I've wanted to bond so much more with you but then I was busy and you started going through all this stuff so I just never got the chance but now-"

"You're rambling," Clary cuts her off. Isabelle promptly closes her mouth. "But, yeah, this'll be fun."

Isabelle nods and faces forward. She grips the steering wheel so hard that her knuckles begin to turn white. "Where to first?"

"You like to shop," Clary says putting on her seatbelt. "You choose."

Isabelle grins and starts driving. "You are going to regret those words, Clarissa."

"I can tell," Clary sighs leaning back in her seat. She runs her fingers across the credit cards in her hands with a lump of some unrecognizable feeling in her throat. "I can already tell."

Isabelle drives Clary deep into the city where there are shops galore. They find a parking spot close to one of Isabelle's favorite stores and rush inside. The store is already bustling with people despite it still being relatively early in the morning. Isabelle immediately starts rummaging through racks of beautiful dresses that Clary would never even consider buying. Today, though, is different because today she plans on reinventing herself. Gone are the days of dependency on someone else, gone are the days of believing what other people say. Soon she plans to have a completely different life. That starts with how she perceives herself.

"Alright," Isabelle says pulling out a navy blue romper with pink flowers on it. She holds it out to Clary cheerfully. "One."

"One?"

"I'm going to find five things for you to try on," she explains. "This is number one. Now, let's find two through five."

Clary takes the romper with a laugh as the raven-haired girl heads off to more clothes. "Alrighty then."

The next hour and a half is spent finding the next four outfits. Between Clary rejecting the clothes and Isabelle picking from a very small range, it takes a while for the two to agree. After trying them all on, Clary chooses to buy three along with a pair of boots and a scarf. They leave the shop and head out to get some brunch, Clary still plans on doing more shopping, but first, she wants to eat.

The girls end up discussing Clary's love life due to the whole reason they were out shopping. Isabelle was nice enough to add an 'if you want to talk about it' after every question she asked, but Clary didn't mind spilling all the drama from the past two weeks. The other girl ends up being incredibly sympathetic and even jokes around with her and Clary finds herself wondering why she'd never gone out with Isabelle before. They'd always just spoken during work and mostly those conversations were about work. One can only learn so much about another when all they do is discuss flowers.

"That bastard," Isabelle is saying after Clary tells her about how she'd caught Sebastian cheating on her with his secretary. "I find it so unbelievable that men can be that stupid."

Clary shrugs. "I should've seen the signs sooner. I mean, one can only work overtime so often and he always smelled like vanilla- he does not have vanilla shampoo or cologne and neither do I. If anything, I'm the stupid one." Isabelle reaches across the table and whacks Clary on the shoulder. Not too lightly, either. "Ow!"

"You're not stupid," Isabelle scolds her as Clary rubs her bruised shoulder. "Don't you dare say that or I'll hit you harder. You have to understand that it's not your fault, Clary. You're the victim here."

"I know that," Clary shrugs. "I'm just still struggling to understand the whole 'why' of the situation. This whole thing has given me some serious trust issues, I don't think I'll be dating for a while."

"You don't need to date but you do need to get out there," Isabelle says. "Listen, tomorrow night, Jace and I are going out to one of our favorite clubs. You should come with. Just flirt, dance, and then you can go home alone. Just have fun."

"I don't know..."

"Clary," Isabelle cuts her off by placing her hand over Clary's own. "Do you trust me?"

Clary narrows her eyes at Isabelle and thinks before slowly speaking. "Sure."

"Then come out with us."

Clary sighs knowing there's likely no way out of this. "Fine, I'll come out with you two."

"Yay!" Isabelle squeals. "Trust me, you won't regret it."

"I better not."

"You won't," Isabelle squeezes Clary's hand before retracting her arm to her side. "Now, change of subject." She shifts in her seat a bit. "How's it going living with Jace?"

Clary shrugs. "Fine, there's not much to talk about. I believe that I've had two conversations with him: one last night discussing rules for the next two weeks and one this morning. And if I'm being totally honest, he's kind of irritating."

"Yes, well, let me give you a little tip: at times, Jace can be insufferable, but if you proceed to pretend like he doesn't exist you've already won." Clary raises her eyebrows and Isabelle elaborates. "He's gotten so used to always being the center of attention that if you just ignore him he'll get really annoyed and give in to whatever you guys were previously talking about."

"You sure know how to push his button's," Clary laughs. "But it's good that you're so close to your brother. I'm the same way with mine."

Isabelle looks like she wants to say something but decides against it. Instead, she questions Clary's brother. "I didn't know you have a brother."

"Yup," Clary nods. "Jonathon. He's actually coming into town in a week for my birthday and then he's staying here for another month for what was supposed to be my wedding. I don't know how I'm going to break the news to him."

"Birthday?" Isabelle's eyebrows shoot up. The girl can't seem to stick to one topic for more than a few seconds.

"Yes, I'm turning twenty-five on August twenty-third." The moment the words leave Clary's mouth, Isabelle's eyes widen. "Isabelle, please don't make a big deal about it. This year I'm just going out with Simon and Jon and pretending that all the world's problems don't exist. So, maybe instead of freaking out about that, you could help me figure out just how I'm going to tell my older and very protective brother that my fiance cheated on me?"

Isabelle grimaces. "Oh, yeah. If he's anything like Alec or Jace then that is going to be one hell of a conversation."

"Exactly," Clary sighs. "And I have the slightest feeling that he's going to try and kill someone."

"Just do what I do." Isabelle shrugs. "Start talking about something random really fast and throw in the 'my fiance cheated on me so the wedding is off' bit somewhere in the middle."

"That won't work."

"It'll maybe work."

Clary shakes her head though she's smiling. "Whatever, we should probably head back out now. I'm not quite done shopping."

"Okay, but first I want to swing by Jace's apartment," Isabelle says collecting her things. "I think my favorite hat is over there from the last time I visited him."

"No problem," Clary says. They head out to the car as she continues. "I wish Jonathon lived close enough that I could visit him so often."

Isabelle laughs a little. "Sorry, it's just that every time you say Jonathon I get confused. Jace's full name is actually Jonathon Christopher."

Clary nods in understanding but there's something familiar about that name. She can't quite put her finger on what it is, though, as the two get into the car and go to the apartment. When they get there, Jace has put on clothing but is still just lounging around. Clary's face heats up at the memory of this morning. It had taken all of her will power to remain calm when he had exited his room half naked.

Jace looks up as Isabelle and Clary enter. Isabelle walks through the room without saying a word and Jace just shrugs. He turns to Clary.

"Hey," is all he says. Clary nods back politely when she notices Church sitting on the couch beside him. Her grin widens as she walks over and kneels in front of the cat.

"Hi," she coos. He purrs and rubs his back against Clary beckoning for her to pet him. Jace lets out a big huff of a sigh and Clary looks up at him. He's scowling but staring at the tv. "Can I help you with something?"

"No, no," he mutters still not looking at her or the cat. Clary stands up despite Chruch's protests and crosses her arms. Jace glances over but says nothing.

"I think you're jealous," Clary says. Jace scoffs and opens his mouth to protest but Clary continues first. "I think that Church likes me more than you and you're jealous."

"Am not," Jace exclaims sounding like a child. He turns to Clary. "He is merely trying to win you over because he can tell that you're a weak soul and will give him more treats." He looks down at the cat with narrowed eyes. "Fatso."

"I have yet to give him one treat," Clary points out sitting on the other side of Church and stroking his back. His body shakes with purrs. "So the only logical explanation here is that you, Goldie-locks, are jealous."

"What happened to Jimothy?" Jace questions the name change.

Clary shrugs. "I thought you didn't like Jimothy. I could continue calling you Jimothy."

"No, no," Jace says. "No more Jimothy." Clary grins with evil in her eyes though and he realizes that he just dug his own grave. Jace glares at Clary, then Church then faces forward with his arms crossed. "Traitor," he mumbles.

"What was that?" Clary inquires.

"Traitor," Jace says loudly once again turning back to Clary. He points accusingly at Church. "That cat is a traitor."

"Is it really so traitorous if he's obviously making the right choice?" Clary asks with an innocent smile.

Jace furrows his eyebrows. "What? You think you're the right choice for this cat? I'll have you know that Church and I have more memories together than you probably have of Isabelle. We're besties, right Church?" Jace looks down at the cat who then proceeds to shove his head into Clary's stomach.

Clary shrugs. "I guess we really do know who he likes better."

"Please," Jace grumbles. "You probably have treats in your pockets or something." Clary pulls out all her pockets to reveal that there's nothing in any of them. Jace looks like he's arguing with himself for a moment before he finally speaks again directing his words to the cat. "Evil little traitor. I wouldn't be surprised if you're related to a duck."

"Oh come on," Isabelle says as she reenters the room before Clary can even question the whole duck comment. She puts her arms on Jace's head so she's resting on him. "I think that the poor thing has just fallen for a pretty face. It's rather obvious to me that within these two weeks he's going to fall in love with her." She winks at Clary.

Jace looks up at Isabelle. "I wouldn't be surprised," he sighs, "Church has no self-control."

"Yup," Isabelle states laughing. She says nothing further though there's a smile on her face that says she wants to. She waves for Clary to follow as she heads for the door. "Come on, Clary, we've still got hours of shopping to do."

Clary follows Isabelle out to the car. "Sure took you a little while to find your hat," she comments.

Isabelle waves a dismissive hand as she starts to drive. "No, I found it right away. I was just watching you and Jace argue for a bit. And you're right... to you he seems very... irritating and irritated."

**Hope you guys liked seeing Izzy and Clary bond a bit, and the banter with Clary and Jace. Comment your thoughts! And don't forget to favorite and follow.**


	6. Red Wine

CLARY'S POV

Monday morning, Clary sits in her room beside the window. Pieces of paper are strewn about the room as she tries and fails to get her drawing right. Outside, the sky rumbles but the rain doesn't fall. It's a dreary morning and it matches her mood just about perfectly.

"Hey," Jace pops his head in. Clary looks up slightly grateful to be taken away from her aggravating drawing. "Simon called my phone, he wants to talk to you."

Clary stands up and takes the phone from Jace, he walks away to let her speak to her friend in private. "Hi, Simon."

"You really need to get a new phone," Simon says immediately. "It's becoming annoying the lengths I must go through to reach you."

She rolls her eyes and sits down on her bed. "What's up?"

"I texted Sebastian." At his words, Clary stands right back up. "I told him that you needed to talk to him sometime soon."

"What did he say?" She asks impatiently.

"'Okay.'" Simon says. Clary furrows her eyebrows. "All he said was 'okay.'"

"That's it?" Clary questions and suddenly she's pacing the floor. "He didn't ask where I'm staying or what I've been doing? He didn't ask what I wanted to talk about? He didn't ask anything at all?"

"No," Simon responds and he sounds a little worried too. "All he said was okay and he hasn't replied since." There's a pause as both think. "Do you work today?"

"No," Clary says. "I have today off."

"Alright," Simon says and she can almost feel him nodding. "Well, I'll call Jace again if there are any updates but for now that's all.

"Okay, thank you, Si, I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah, talk to you later." With that, Simon hangs up. Clary groans collapsing back on her bed. She holds her hands over her face letting stress envelop her until she feels paws step on her stomach. She peeks through her fingers to see that Church has appeared on top of her.

"Hey," Jace says and Clary almost jumps from surprise. He's leaning against the doorway looking mildly concerned. "Church sort of meowed at me until I followed him here. You okay?"

Clary sits up pushing the cat down onto the bed beside her. "Yeah," she lies. "I'm fine."

"You don't look it," Jace says and he steps into the room.

Clary shrugs and grabs his phone. She stands up handing it to him. "Well, I am," she snaps. She's not particularly in the mood to be consoled right now.

"What did Simon have to talk to you about?" Jace asks reluctantly taking his phone back. Clary's fingers brush his and she has to stop a shiver from running up her spine.

"Nothing," Clary says abruptly stepping past Jace and into the hallway. "He was just telling me to come over which I am going to do right now. So, bye." Clary keeps on walking until she's out of the apartment complex and on her Harley. The sky rumbles above her but she ignores it as she starts riding down the streets of New York.

* * *

JACE'S POV

Jace holds the Nerf gun close to his chest as he stands hidden behind the wall. He peers around the edge to find the next room empty. Sneaking over to the couch, Jace surveys the room making sure not to be caught. He sits on the floor in front of the couch and holds his gun in a ready position. He glances over the top of the couch and sees his foe enter. The boy tiptoes into the room unaware that Jace is watching his every move. Then, when he reaches the center of the room, Jace stands with a battle yell and points his gun at the boy. He's too slow though, and is shot by a foam bullet right in the chest. Jace fake dies as dramatically as possible and collapses onto the couch.

"I win! I win!" Raphael exclaims as he runs around the couch to Jace. There's a wide grin on his face as he jumps up and down in front of his uncle's 'dead' body.

Jace pretends to be dead for a moment longer before he sits up and scoops up the boy catching him off guard. He sits him down on the couch and tickles his sides. Raphael squeals out laughter as he attempts to push Jace's hands away. Eventually, tired himself, Jace stops and plops down next to his nephew.

"Good game, little man," Jace says holding out his hand for Raphael to shake. "Truly, the best man won." Raphael puts on his most serious face, which is rather adorable, and shakes Jace's hand twice. Jace grabs the remote to the tv and turns it on just as Isabelle enters the room.

"Hey Jace," she says.

"Yeah?"

"Do you know where Clary is?"

"This morning she mentioned she was going to Simon's," he says.

"She's not over there," Isabelle says, "Simon just texted me asking where she was. Apparently he went to your apartment a few minutes ago but she wasn't there."

Jace raises an eyebrow turning back around to Isabelle. At this point, Raphael is so tired and absorbed by the television that he doesn't care. "Then I have no idea. She did seem a bit distraught after speaking with Simon though. But she told me she was going to his house."

"Well, he's freaking out and-" Isabelle's cut off when her phone starts ringing. She sighs answering it. "And now he's calling me. Hi, Simon." Isabelle begins to turn away but Jace snaps getting her attention.

"We're still going out tonight, right?" He asks.

Isabelle rolls her eyes. "Yes, Jace, we're still going out tonight. Oh, and- if we can find her in time- Clary's coming with us."

Jace gives Isabelle a thumbs up as she exits the room. He looks down at Raphael deep in thought. A boom of thunder echoes outside reminding Jace that he'd wanted to do something today before it rained. He ruffles Raphael's hair as he stands up. He finds Alec in his room, the man's on a phone call so Jace just mouths that he's leaving and waits for Alec to nod in response.

He leaves the apartment in a rush and gets in his car. During the drive, he consistently glances up at the sky and watches the gray clouds roll around. It takes him half an hour, but when he arrives at his destination it hasn't started to rain yet. Jace gets out of the car and pulls his jackets tighter around his body. He looks around to see that, as expected, there's no one else here. At least, that's what he first thinks, but upon further inspection he spots someone kneeling under a tree with what has become oddly familiar red hair.

Jace walks through the cemetery glancing around at the headstones. He catches a glimpse of the one he came here for but decides first to speak with Clary. After all, no one seems to have any idea where she is right now.

"Hey," Jace says when he reaches her. She jumps and looks up at him before looking back down at the grave.

"Christ, are you stalking me or something?" She asks. Her voice is flat and her face is clearly tear-stained. Jace looks down at the grave and reads '_Jocelyn Fairchild: devoted mother and friend'._

"No," Jace says. "I came here to visit... someone." Jace stops himself before admitting that he came here for his own mother. Clary still thinks he's a Lightwood and he'd prefer it stayed that way. Clary fidgets with her fingers as she stares at the headstone. She says nothing so Jace crouches down beside her. The two hadn't gotten off to the best start and he feels awkward here but she's clearly going through something. "Simon is worried about you. He doesn't know where you are." Clary just nods. "Listen, if you're not even going to respond to me then I'll just leave you alone but you need to contact your friend." Jace stands up and scoffs when Clary doesn't even react.

After a minute, she glares up at him. "I thought you were going to leave me alone?"

"You need to contact your friend," Jace repeats. Clary rolls her eyes turning back to the grave. He shakes his head thoroughly annoyed by the fact that she's being so inconsiderate about her friend's feelings. "Seriously? Sulking over a grave is no excuse to just ignore the people that care about you." After another minute of silence, Jace rolls his own eyes and turns away. He gets two graves down when Clary finally speaks.

"Do you know why I work at a flower shop?" She says loudly. Jace stops and half turns to her. She's still not looking at him but now he's intrigued. He walks back to her as she continues. "For as long as I can remember, my mother had gotten me a single white gardenia for my birthday. No matter what other presents I got, that one thing was always what I cherised the most. You see, at some point when I was little she had explained to me that the gardenia is used to convey the feeling of unexpressable love and devotion from one to another. She would give me that flower and a drawing of myself because she couldn't express just how important I was to her." Clary puts her hand on the tombstone and outlines the letters of the name there. "I have eighteen little drawings of myself. For eighteen years she gave me a gardenia. Until she died two days after my eighteenth birthday. So, I work at a flower shop because it reminds me of her and of happier times. Working at the flower shop gives me the inspiration to draw and to get up in the morning."

Jace squats down beside Clary and looks at the day that her mom died. August 25th and that meant Clary's birthday was already in less than a week. With everything else that had been happening recently, no wonder she's been struggling so much.

"I-" Jace swallows hard unsure of what to say. I'm sorry? He always hates when people say 'I'm sorry' when they find out his mom is dead.

"I'll go over to Simon's in a few minutes," Clary says. She turns to Jace and despite there being tears in her eyes she looks completely calm. "I just wanted to talk to my mom a bit. She always knows what to do." Clary sighs standing up. She wipes at her pants to get rid of any grass or dirt and starts walking away without another word.

Jace stands there for another moment utterly confused by what just happened. He looks down at Clary's mother's grave and notices that she had left a gardenia there. The sky rumbles again and Jace realizes that there's a likely chance it's going to rain within the next ten minutes. He turns to tell Clary that he'll give her a ride home but she's already gone. He rakes a hand through his hair. Utterly confused indeed...

* * *

CLARY'S POV

Later that afternoon, Clary is back at the apartment. She had done as she said she would and gone over to Simon's for an hour or so. After clearing up that she had just been at her mother's grave for a couple hours, he calmed down and she went back to the apartment. Now, she stares out the window as the sky cries against the glass pane. She moves her pencil against a paper sketching out the window in front of her and the raindrops that fall on it. Just as she's happy with the final product, there's a knock at the front door. Knowing that Jace will answer it, Clary doesn't move as she flips to a clean sheet. But then her eyes go wide when she hears a familiar voice and she darts out of the room.

"And who are you?" Jace is asking. He's standing in a purposeful manner to not let the other man inside and because of this, Clary's view of him is blocked. She has no doubts about who it is, though.

"How did you know where to find me?" Clary questions. Jace turns around and Clary can see Sebastian. He looks nice with a button-up shirt and drycleaned slacks. His hair is perfectly styled and Clary notices the umbrella at his side is the cause for it staying so neat. His expression, on the other hand, looks torn like he can't decide whether he's happy or angry to see Clary. There's obvious lust in his eyes, though.

"I went to your workplace," Sebastian states formally. "I asked one of your coworkers, Maia I believe her name was. She didn't know where you were staying but she asked another girl named Isabelle and found out easily."

"When I said that I wanted to talk to you I was hoping we could discuss a time and place," Clary says. "I didn't mean for you to just show up here."

"And where exactly is here?" Sebastian wonders eyeing Jace suspiciously.

"That is none of your business," Clary says. She stalks forward so she's a few feet from Sebastian. "Listen, I just wanted to give you back your stupid ring and ask that from here on out you leave me alone. I'm done with you, Sebastian."

"I don't believe that," Sebastian says staring at Clary's hand as she yanks off the ring. "You still love me, I know you do."

"I doubt that," Jace suddenly speaks up before Clary can. Her mind whirls wondering what on earth he's doing as he wraps an arm around her shoulders. It takes all of her willpower to remain calm and not just push him off her. "Considering that she's with me now." And there it is...

Sebastian's eyebrows shoot up. "Really? That was rather fast, Clarissa."

"Sometimes it's just right," Jace adds. Clary fights back a groan and bites her tongue.

"I suppose sometimes it is," Sebastian's eyes narrow. "I just didn't realize you liked people like him, Clary. I thought you were above that."

"People like what?" Clary questions though she felt Jace tense when Sebastian said it. "Ruggedly good looking men who actually care about me and stay loyal? Yeah, I guess you could say I like people like that."

"I meant-"

"I think what you meant," Jace cuts him off seeming just slightly panicked. Clary ignores it though as she tries to focus on getting her ex-fiance out of here. "Is to be leaving."

Clary holds out her hand for Sebastian to take the ring. He stares back and forth between Clary and Jace for a moment before angrily snatching the ring out of her palm and stalking away. The moment he's out of sight and the door is closed, Clary whips Jace's arm off of her.

"Agh!" Clary exclaims running both her hands through her hair.

"Ruggedly good looking, eh?" Jace questions with a smile.

Clary turns on him scowling. "What the hell was that?" She practically yells. Jace's smile falls and he jumps back a little.

"I was just helping you out," he says defensively.

"I do not need your help," Clary growls. "I am perfectly fine with dealing with Sebastian on my own so next time why don't you keep that in mind before pretending to be my... _anything_!"

"Don't get mad at me for trying to help!" Jace yells back and Clary's eyebrows shoot up in disbelief. Is he really going to be mad at her now? "Don't make me out to be the bad guy here. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should have to. I didn't do anything wrong here."

"Don't you try to spin this on me!" Clary says. "You have no right to be mad or try to play the victim card here. You hardly know me! The only reason that I'm even staying with you is because my best friend went behind my back and spoke to your little sister. You are not involved in my life in any way so I don't care if you're 'just trying to help' because I don't need help from the likes of you!"

"Seriously? That has got to be one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard." Jace threw up his hands exasperated. "Accept kind gestures and help where people offer it. You're lucky that you have a best friend who cares enough about you to go to the lengths he did to make sure you had a place to stay for the next couple of weeks. Appreciate it."

"You don't think I do?" Clary scoffs. "Do you really think I'm that damn selfish? Just because I don't 'appreciate' one thing doesn't mean I'm going to take for granted everything else! I just can't believe that you- I mean-" Clary squeezes her hand to keep herself from screaming. She takes in a deep breath and glares at Jace. In truth, she's not even entirely sure why she's so angry. If he hadn't done that then she doubts that Sebastian would have left so soon. In fact, he might still have been there. "You know what? Just leave me alone. I can't stand to be around you right now."

"Good because I can hardly stand to be around you either."

Clary rolls her eyes and storms back to her room. She slams her door shut at the exact same time that Jace does.

**Hey, y'all! Hope you liked this chapter and trust me when I say that the next one is going to basically be the complete opposite of what just happened. Hehe. Anyway, comment thoughts! Love y'all!**


	7. Drawings of Flowers

JACE'S POV

Around seven that night, the rain is pouring down as thunder shakes the building and lightning illuminates the room. Jace's phone goes off and he answers without checking who it is. Isabelle's voice soon fills his ear.

"Okay, so it's seven now and I'm thinking that we should leave at nine." She starts saying without so much as a hello. "That just leaves the question of whether you're going to come and get me or if I'm going to come over there and meet you guys. The latter would give me more time to get ready but I'll be okay with coming over there if you need me to. Of course, if you come over here then you can quickly say hi to the guys before we go out and Clary could even meet them. You know what? I like that idea, let's have you two come over here at nine. I-"

"Isabelle," Jace cuts her off. He knows that he sounds aggravated and that's because he is. After the fight he'd had with Clary over an hour before, he was just put in a terrible mood. "It's storming out. I don't know how good of an idea it still is to go out, especially if we're going to end up drinking."

"Are you okay?" Isabelle asks. "You sound sort of upset."

"I'm fine," Jace snaps. He sighs and tries calming himself down. "Sorry, I'm just feeling a little irritated right now. Clary and I got into this whole fight and-"

"Oh?" Isabelle sounds oddly excited. "What about? Do tell."

Jace rolls his eyes. "Nothing. Just, I don't know if I even want to go out still. Let's just move this to another night."

"Oh come on," Isabelle whines. "This is exactly what you need to take your mind off whatever happened. A night out dancing and having fun is exactly what we all need to get over this gloomy weather."

As if on cue, the lights go out with Isabelle's words. Jace curses as another boom fills the skies. "Did your lights just go out?" Jace asks Isabelle.

She sighs. "Yes." Now _she _sounds aggravated. "Ugh, fine, we'll go out some other night. I have to go and help Alec and Magnus light candles and take care of Raphael. The poor thing is crying now. I'll talk to you later and, uh, please be nice to Clary."

"Why don't you tell her to be nice to me?" Jace scowls.

"I would if I could but I can't so I shan't." Isabelle pauses. "Be nice." With that, the line goes dead.

Jace checks his phone battery to find that it's only at twenty percent. Hopefully the lights would come on soon, but for now he would have to conserve his battery. He exits his room and stands in his doorway for a moment while his eyes adjust to the dark. Just as they finally do, Clary's door opens. Jace avoids her gaze as he makes his way to the bathroom.

"I'm gonna get some candles. There are more in the kitchen along with a lighter," he says flatly. Clary doesn't respond but he hears her retreating footsteps.

Jace walks around the apartment placing the four candles that were in the bathroom around. He leaves one in the bathroom, puts another in his room, one in his office, and one in Clary's room. He sets it down on the dresser and is about to leave when he notices the sketches that are strewn about the room. There are drawings of flowers and buildings, birds and vinyl record players, there's one of a cemetery and another of Church (which Jace knows is the cat himself because it's so accurate). He picks up one of what appears to be the very window in Clary rooms and stares at it for a solid minute or so. He hadn't known that Clary was so talented. But of course, he didn't know her very well. She'd been right about that in their argument earlier.

"Can I help you?" Clary's voice makes Jace spin around on his heel and hastily drop the paper he'd been holding. She's holding a lighter in one of her hands and her eyebrows are raised.

"No, sorry, I was just putting a candle in here and... did you do all of these?" Jace gestures around to the sketches.

Clary walks forward and picks up the paper Jace had dropped. She sets in on the bed and walks over to the dresser where the candle sits. "Yes, I did."

"They're amazing," Jace says. The candlelight flickers a moment before sitting strong. Clary turns around to face Jace with her arms crossed. Clearly, she was still very angry from earlier. "Really."

"Thanks," she says avoiding meeting Jace's eye. She catches sight of what appears to be a sketchbook, though, and her eyes widen just a fraction. She rushes over and closes it before Jace can see whatever it was open to. Clary clutches the book to her chest and sighs. "I guess I got it from my mom."

Jace nods remembering what she'd told him at the cemetery. "Right, well we should probably light the rest of the candles."

Clary nods and swiftly leaves the room still holding the sketchbook. Jace walks out to the living room as she lights the candles. He sits on the couch and stares at two flaming candles that are on the coffee table. Church comes along and curls up beside Jace. He lets out what could almost be heard as a sigh and Jace chuckles.

"Me too, bud." He scratches Church's head and he stretches out with his paws in the air.

Clary comes into the living room then and sits in the chair across from Jace. Neither says anything for several minutes until Church stands up, stretches, and dawdles over to Clary. He hops up on the chair and lays on the armrest. Clary appears to be suppressing a laugh as she strokes his fur.

"Jem, his owner," Jace says softly. "Is going to get a kick out of hearing about how Church acts around you."

Clary smiles. "Animals have always liked me," she says. "I don't know why they just have."

Jace almost says it's because she's plain out likable but he stops himself. He furrows his eyebrows confused by where that thought came from. As innocent as it was, it still felt weird to think because he did like Clary, as a friend, that is. Despite the whole fight they'd had he thought she seemed like a decent person.

"Maybe it really does have to do with you stealing their souls," Jace says instead. Clary glares up at him before shaking her head and looking back down at Church.

"When does your neighbor come back?" Clary wonders.

"A few weeks," Jace says. He takes the time that she's looking down to study her. The candlelight casts shadows across her face making the freckles seem sparse and brightening just one of her green eyes. Her hair is atop her head in a messy red bun mirroring the tiny flame above the blue wax.

"Hmm," Clary grunts pulling Jace out of his trance. She's still staring at the cat but now he's not staring quite so intensely at her. "Looks like I'll just have to visit until then so I can see my favorite little guy." A smile pulls at her lips as Church flips onto his side exposing his belly for Clary.

"Well, I'm quite flattered," Jace says letting the sarcasm pour out. As he speaks, Clary looks up at him with her eyebrows raised. "I mean, I'm obviously everyone's favorite guy but that whole 'little' comment seems a little off. You know?" Clary just stares at Jace and he grins. "Sorry."

She shakes her head and picks up Church and sets him back down on her lap. "I understand, you just can't help being... well, you." She blinks up at Jace. She also sounded sarcastic but her words remind him of the fight they'd had and he suddenly feels really bad about it all.

"I'm sorry," he blurts out before he can stop himself. Clary looks up confused. "About what I did and said earlier. I'm sorry, I didn't mean it."

Clary chews on her lip. "No, you were kind of right. I was just riled up because I saw Sebastian and-" she shakes her head cutting herself off. "I'm sorry. I really shouldn't be such an idiot some times. Or all the time, really."

"You weren't being an idiot," Jace scoffs. "Your reaction was reasonable after that guy just showed up with no warning. I mean, he went through crazy lengths to find you. Asking your coworkers? Who does that?"

Clary chuckles a little. "Yeah, he's always been like that."

"Why'd you break up with him, anyway?" Jace asks curiosity taking over.

Clary shakes her head. "He was just... an ass." Jace raises an eyebrow and she sighs chewing on her lip again. "Okay, fine, I went to his office one day to surprise him because he was always working late and I thought I'd be a good fiance and bring him dinner, but..." Clary trails off and Jace's jaw drops as he guesses what happened next. "I instead found him nailing his secretary atop his desk." She laughs a little as though the whole thing is funny. "I just sort of stood there in shock for a minute and they didn't notice me until I dropped the dinner I'd made on the ground. God," she runs a shaky hand through her hair. "Saying that all out loud makes it seem so... ridiculous."

"Well, yeah," Jace scoffs. "Any scenario where the guy is cheating on you is pretty damn ridiculous." A small blush creeps up on Clary's cheeks and she looks down at Church again. Jace opens his mouth to speak again when his phone goes off. He looks at the caller ID and holds out his phone. "It's Simon."

Clary looks down at the purring cat in her lap. "Umm, why don't you just put it on speaker?"

Jace nods and answers the phone. He set it down on the coffee table as Simon speaks.

"Hey, Jace, can I talk to Clary?"

"I'm here, Si," Clary calls into the phone. "What's up?"

"Oh, hey," Simon says. "Well, I was watching the news and I saw that the area you're in is blacked out. You okay?"

"Yeah, we're alright," Clary says. "It's just really dark over here."

Simon laughs. "Yeah, I bet. I'd say that you could come over here for the night but one, Jordan's family is literally insane and two, the storm is far too intense to drive in."

"Yeah, thanks anyway, Si." Clary seems to think before continuing. "Seb came by here a few hours ago."

The other line goes completely silent for a bit. Then, Simon takes a deep breath and speaks. "Are you okay? How'd he know where you are?"

"I'm fine," Clary says and she looks up at Jace. "Jace sort of came to my rescue." He raises an eyebrow in question as Simon talks.

"Really? Where is he right now?"

"I'm here," Jace says not breaking his gaze from Clary. "You're on speaker and, come on Lewis, no need to sound so surprised there."

"Sorry," Simon says. "Just seems a little... odd. Anyway, what happened? Did you give him back the ring, Clary?"

"Yes," Clary says tearing her eyes away from Jace's. He can't help but feel a ping of disappointment. "He was reluctant to take it, but he did. I don't know if he's going to try and show up here again."

"If he does I'll just punch his lights out," Jace says like it's nothing. Clary shakes her head at him though she's smiling.

"Please no," Simon sighs. "I'm sure that Jon is already planning on doing so." At his words, Clary looks down at her feet and scratches her head. Jace furrows his eyebrows confused and when no one says anything, Simon speaks slowly. "You have told Jon, right? Clary, you promised me you were going to tell him!"

"I know!" Clary exclaims. "I know and I will, I just haven't yet."

"He's going to be so mad."

"I know..."

"What if he shows up in New York and goes to Sebastian's house and finds out like _that_?"

"He won't," Clary looks nervous. "Because I'll be picking him up from the airport."

"Who's Jon?" Jace questions but Clary waves a dismissive hand at him and doesn't answer.

"I'll tell him in person," Clary says. "It'll be best if I just tell him in person."

"Do you want me to be there?"

Clary thinks. "No, maybe be nearby, but I have to tell him myself."

"Okay, tell him on your birthday that way you can just pull the 'please be calm, it's my birthday' card."

Clary laughs. "Will do. I should go now, though, I don't want to kill Jace's phone's battery. I'll talk to you later, Si."

"Talk to you later, Clare. Love you."

"Love you too."

Jace leans forward and ends the call. His phone has dropped five percent.

"God, that reminds me that I still need to talk to Luke too. His flight doesn't come in for a few more weeks, though so I have time. I just don't know if he'll want to cancel the flight. He might come out anyway."

"Who is Luke?" Jace questions confused by all the new names being thrown into the conversation.

"He was my mom's best friend when they were kids. He was the Simon to my mom's Clary."

Jace nods understandingly. "I see, and you haven't told him or this other dude, Jon, that the wedding is off? You have told everyone that was invited it's off, right?"

Clary crunches up her nose. "Umm, no?" She groans letting her head fall back in the chair. Church jumps off her lap and wanders into some other room. "I still have so much to do. I've canceled mostly everything and giving back the ring was on my to-do list, but I just haven't really felt like doing much else."

"I can help," Jace says casually and Clary's head springs up. "Anything you need to be done, just ask."

Clary shakes her head. "No, you're already doing enough by letting me stay here period. I couldn't possibly ask you to do anything more."

"I don't mind," Jace shrugs. "What have I got going on that's more important?"

Clary opens her mouth but seems torn. She chews her lips and sighs. "No, I really couldn't impose on your life like that. Thank you, but no." Jace just nods though he's disappointed.

"That's fine, let's change the subject then. Get your mind off of it."

Clary nods and raps her fingers against her sketchbook before suddenly blurting out, "Do you want to see something kind of cool?"

Jace raises an eyebrow. "Sure."

Clary grins giddy and stands up. She sits beside Jace on the couch and pulls her feet up under her. She opens up her sketchbook and flips through the pages before settling on one. She runs her hands over the page and moves it over so Jace can see. It's just in black and white but the four different parts of it are very distinct: in the upper right is part of the face of a woman; then, connected to the woman, on the left side is part of the face of a man; below that are two more segments of male faces. Jace grabs one of the candles and holds it carefully so that he can see the drawing better but if he were to drop it there'd be no chance of burning the paper. When he looks closer, he notices that the woman part looks similar to Clary but different at the same time, the other half of the upper face Jace doesn't recognize but there's something familiar about both bottom segments.

"So, I took the four people that matter to me most and I connected their faces," Clary says. "This is my mom," she points to the woman then moves her finger to the other eye. "This is Jonathon. Below him is Simon's jaw and besides that... well, that's Sebastian but I think I'm going to have to change that now." She traces over Sebastian's section with her finger before placing her hand flat over it to hide just it. "When I color it, I'm going to do a seasons theme that connects to each of their personalities. My mom is Spring because I connect her to flowers and she was always so happy like the blooming of flowers and trees. Jon is Winter because he can be really cold sometimes but he's also always the one to cheer me up- you know, hot chocolate, warm fires, Christmas." Clary laughs and Jace wants to question who Jon is again but she continues before he gets the chance. "Then Simon is Autumn because we grew up together and he was the main influence that changed who I am and every change I've ever gone through he was there for. Lastly, Sebastian was going to be Summer because he was the 'light of my life' but as I said, that's going to change."

Jace laughs and takes the sketchbook. Clary reluctantly lets him look at it, she reaches over at takes the candle from him as he holds the paper.

"This is really good," Jace says. He looks up at Clary but she's staring right at the paper. Her face is still mere inches from his. "I can totally tell that that is Simon's jaw."

Clary laughs and looks up. When she does, her eyes meet Jace's and she seems to freeze. Her eyes quickly flicker down to his lips almost unconsciously. Jace feels himself move in just as there's a loud mew below them. Clary jumps back immediately and sets the candle down on the coffee table. Jace, still in the same position, takes a calming breath before glaring down at the cat that had reappeared in front of them. He could've sworn there was an evil glint in the things eye.

"Thanks," Clary says in an uneven voice. She takes the sketchbook back from Jace without meeting his eye. "I did them all without references so I was pretty proud of that." She runs a hand through her hair and Jace can't tell whether the darkening of her cheeks is due to what almost happened or if it's just the lighting.

"Are you hungry?" Jace asks randomly just trying to fill the silence. Clary turns to him and nods. Jace stands up and enters the kitchen. He opens the unlit fridge hoping that the lights come on soon so everything doesn't go bad. He bites his tongue trying to think of what there is that doesn't require some sort of cooking. "All I can think of is salad."

"You can make some good stuff from salad," Clary says. Jace turns to see that she's now sitting at the island in the kitchen. Her hair seems impossibly bright in the darkness. She stands up and walks over to the fridge. "Here, give me your phone or a flashlight." Deciding his phone battery is low enough, Jace opens one of the drawers in the kitchen and pulls out a flashlight. He hands it to Clary and she shines it into the fridge.

She begins taking things out of the fridge and setting them on the counter. She opens several cabinets until she finds the ones filled with spices and such. Clary takes out a large bowl, finds some measuring cups, and begins putting the things together. Jace sits down at the kitchen island and watches. As she's close to finishing, she speaks.

"This salad has some really weird and fancy French name that I cannot remember for the life of me," she says. "I'm also leaving out a few things because you don't have them but it'll be fine." Clary takes out two more bowls and puts some of the salad into each. She pushes one of the bowls over to Jace along with a fork. He stares down at it suspiciously and Clary rolls her eyes. "It won't bite, just eat it. Trust me."

Jace sighs and takes a bite. To his surprise, it's not bad at all. "This is pretty good," Jace says and Clary smiles. "You're a far better chef than Isabelle. I'm sure that if she were to even make a salad it'd end up tasting like something from a dumpster."

"Aww," Clary says. "That's just mean. I'm sure she's not that bad."

Jace shakes his head laughing. "No, she is. She tried making soup and she burned the water."

Clary laughs and then promptly covers her mouth. Jace holds back a little laugh too. "Now I just feel bad for her," Clary says.

"Don't," Jace says. "She excels in plenty of other fields. Such as fashion, charisma, interior and exterior decorating, knowing and getting what she wants, empathy-"

"Okay!" Clary cuts him off, putting her hands up. "You've proven your point." Jace nods his head once, satisfied.

The rest of the evening goes by all too quickly. Jace finds himself laughing every time Clary does and smiling every time she does too. He stays confused the entire time as his mind whirls around how he's feeling. Not that he knows what he's feeling, but that's precisely what's so confusing to him. Clary's a nice person, a good friend and that's all... he thinks.

**Hope y'all liked this chapter. Please review your thoughts!**


	8. Bouquet of Daisies

JACE'S POV

When Jace woke up the next morning, all the lights in his room were on. He flips them all off and exits his room yawning. Clary's door is open and he notices that she's not inside. In fact, she doesn't appear to be in the apartment at all. He glances out the window and notices that all the storm clouds are gone and the sky is perfectly blue.

Jace plugs his phone into a charger since it had actually died the night before. He begins making himself breakfast as it charges. After a couple of minutes, it's screen lights up and a little one percent appears beside the battery symbol. The screen goes dark only to be lit up immediately again when he starts to receive messages from various people. Jace abandons his cup of coffee to see who called him the night before. There's one call from Alec, one from his father, one from Simon, and a few texts from Isabelle. Jace opens his phone and puts it on speaker as he listens to the voice mail messages that Alec and his father had left him.

"Hey Jace," Alec's voice says. "I'm betting your phone probably died so just call me when you get this. Actually, scratch that, don't call me just come over to Izzy's. I've got news. Really big and really great news."

When the message ends, Jace presses on the one from his father.

"Good morning, Jonathon," Stephen says. Jace rolls his eyes already annoyed. "As you know, the annual Herondale ball is coming up at the end of the month and you are expected to be there. I've had my assistant send you your flight details and if you notice, I'm allowing for you to bring a plus one again this year. I'm well aware of the fact that you only came last year because I allowed you to bring your friend Alec. Hopefully, we can talk soon."

Jace grabs his phone as that message ends and opens up his email. He finds the flight information there along with the digital invitation to the ball. Jace sighs putting his phone back down. For as long as he could remember he was forced to go to that annual ball and rub elbows with other rich people. Being the only heir to the Herondale fortune, Jace was expected to one day take over the business and he had every intention of doing so, but for now, he wanted to stay as far away from people like his father as possible. He couldn't stand most of them but he couldn't be rude because he would one day be forced to do business with them.

Jace pushes the thoughts of the ball out of his head and grabs his keys. He heads out of the apartment and over to Isabelle's.

* * *

CLARY'S POV

"Then there was just spaghetti all over the living room," Simon is saying as Clary rearranges a bouquet. "I didn't even know that that much spaghetti could exist in one house. After that, it just became an all-out war between Jordan's nieces and nephews. Eventually, we got them calmed down enough to make them clean the place. It was a hell of a night though."

Clary chuckles. "Yeah, it sounds like it."

"What's with you this morning?" Simon asks. Clary glances over at him confused but even she knows that she's been a little spacey. "You seem sort of off."

Clary shakes her head looking back at the flowers. She decides this bouquet of daisies looks fine and walks over to the counter. Simon follows. "I know. I just- I don't know. Last night was just sort of weird for me too."

"What do you mean?" Simon asks. He sits down on the window sill and leans forward.

Clary glances at Isabelle who is across the shop talking to some customers. She sits down beside Simon and keeps her voice low. "Well, after the lights went out Jace and I were talking and everything and I decided to show him that seasons drawing I'm working on and I-" She stops herself checking to make sure Isabelle is still busy. Simon's eyebrows are raised in anticipation as Clary leans in closer and lowers her voice to practically a whisper. "I think we almost kissed."

Simon bolts upward looking down at Clary with disbelief. "You what now?!" He exclaims. Isabelle and the customers look over and Simon smiles awkwardly. When they turn away, Clary pulls Simon back down beside her.

"I don't know," Clary says in a hushed yell. "But calm down."

"You're telling me to calm down?" Simon changes his tone to a hushed yell now too. "How the hell am I supposed to calm down when you tell me _that_? I do not approve Clarissa Adele Fairchild! I do not approve."

"Simon! Nothing even happened and I don't see him that way," Clary reassures Simon although she's not entirely sure of the words she's saying right now. "I hardly know the guy."

"Exactly," Simon scolds. "You hardly know him so you shouldn't be getting so close to him. The guy is supposed to be your roommate and nothing more. I swear to god that if he tries absolutely anything on you I will not hesitate to hurt him in ways he couldn't imagine." Clary raises her eyebrows and Simon rolls his eyes. "I will not hesitate to tell Jon and have _him _hurt him in ways he couldn't imagine."

Clary shakes her head. "Relax, I'm not interested in him and there's no way he's interested in me. I was probably just imagining things last night." Clary stands up and starts walking to the back room of the flower shop. "So, if you wouldn't mind, I have some work to do."

* * *

SIMON'S POV

"So, if you wouldn't mind, I have some work to do," Clary says. She lets the door close behind her and the moment she's gone, Simon stands and stalks over to Isabelle. She's just finishing with her customer as he reaches her so he doesn't have to wait long for her attention.

"Christ!" Isabelle exclaims when she sees Simon. "You scared me. Hey, Simon, what's up?"

"Do you think that Jace would hit on Clary?" Simon asks deciding to be blunt. Isabelle raises an eyebrow at him but shrugs.

"Yes, I do," she says and Simon's eyes go wide. "I also think that Clary would hit on Jace. In fact, I think that both have already hit on the other but neither has noticed because they're both blinded by stupidity." Simon's jaw is practically on the floor. Isabelle smirks and begins to walk away but he quickly regains his composure and follows her.

"Clary isn't ready to have another guy in her life," Simon insists. "She just got out of a really long relationship that ended horribly. Do you actually think it's smart to leave her in a position where she could be hurt again? Jace seems like the kiss and miss type."

"Listen," Isabelle says turning to face Simon. "I watched Clary and Jace have one conversation together, that's it just one, and just from that, I could see that something was there. Jace doesn't talk to other girls the way he talks to her. He already seemed comfortable just joking around with her after only one night. I think they're going to be good for each other. I'm not saying that I think they're going to end up dating or anything of the like, I just think that they can help one another get over all their problems."

"But-"

"No buts," Isabelle cuts him off. She puts a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Don't be so worried, Lewis, I've known Jace since I was five; he's a good guy when he cares and I can tell that he cares."

Simon opens his mouth to say something but then he hears what Isabelle said and he furrows his eyebrows. "Wait, did you just say that you've known him since you were five? You're not five years older than Jace, are you?"

"No," Isabelle says. "I'm twenty-four and he's twenty-five-" The moment the words leave her mouth her eyes go wide as she realizes what she said.

"So," Simon says slowly trying to figure this out. "Was he adopted then because you guys said-"

"I know what we've said," Isabelle groans. "Jace is my brother in every way except for blood and surname." Simon narrows his eyes.

"Then who is he really if he's not Jace Lightwood?"

Isabelle glances at the door that Clary had disappeared behind and chews on her lip. "He's Jonathon Christopher Herondale." Simon's mouth drops at the name recognition and Isabelle puts up pleading hands. "Please, you can't tell Clary or anyone. Jace hates his name and his money and when people know about his name and his money. And the way that he acts, how he's a jerk and so irritating most the time, it's so he doesn't get close to anyone. With his family, everything is so complicated and his father never approves of anyone. He'd much rather be normal and he's content with the fact that his current roommate thinks he's normal. Please, just don't tell anyone."

Simon runs a hand through his hair. He doesn't like keeping secrets and he doesn't entirely understand Jace not wanting people to know he's a Herondale but he has to respect the lengths that the man goes through so no one knows. "Fine, I won't tell Clary."

"Thank you!" Isabelle hugs Simon briefly and when she releases him there's a wide smile on her face. "Thank you so much." She glances at the time on her phone and her smile grows impossibly larger. "Oh, I almost forgot," she says just as Clary comes back out. "I have to head back to my apartment to celebrate something." She looks from Clary to Simon. "Do you guys want to come with me? It'll be fun."

"I would," Simon says. "But I actually have to go to work myself."

Isabelle turns excitedly to Clary. "Come on and come with me. We can close this place for just a couple hours and you can meet my new nephew along with my brother Alec."

"What are you celebrating?" Clary asks.

"I have a teen brother, Max," Isabelle says. "For the past few years, he's been in the hospital due to leukemia but last night we got the news that he's getting better and the doctors actually think that if he keeps up with his chemo he can be released from the hospital in a month."

"That's amazing, Izzy, but I don't want to impose. That really sounds like a family thing."

Isabelle waves a dismissive hand. "Nonsense, the more the merrier. Plus, I have a feeling that you're going to like Alec's husband, Magnus. Well, maybe not you like him so much as he's going to like you." Clary laughs.

"Alright," Clary sighs. "I'll come with you."

"Yay!" Isabelle exclaims. "Let's close up and go."

Simon says bye to Clary and Isabelle. When he leaves the shop, he's unsure of everything that he just learned in that twenty-minute span. On one hand, perhaps it would be good for Clary to just move on to another guy, but on the other hand, this guy is lying about who is he and Simon doesn't know if Clary's ready for any sort of relationship yet. What great help it's going to be when Jonathon shows up in just three days...

* * *

JACE'S POV

"Why can't you tell me what the good news is again?" Jace asks as he lays on the couch in Isabelle's apartment. Alec is sitting in a nearby chair while Magnus is somewhere else playing with Raphael.

"Isabelle wants to be here to tell you too," Alec says and Jace nods. "Don't worry, she said that she'd be here any moment."

"In the meantime," Jace says. "I got a call from my dad this morning."

"What about?"

"What do you think? The annual Herondale ball is at the end of the month." Jace groans and lifts his head just enough that he can see Alec. "I'm not looking forward to it."

"You never do," Alec laughs. "Want me to come along again? I think last time I was able to change some minds about you being a terrible heir to the Herondale fortune."

"I know and I thank you for that," Jace says. "But I don't know yet. I'll probably end up taking you along, we'll just have to see."

"Just let me know," Alec says standing. "My boss was pretty happy that I got invited to one of the most exclusive parties of the year last time so I'm thinking that I want to keep this up." He walks out of the room as Jace shoots him a thumbs up.

A moment later, the handle of the front door is jiggling as Isabelle unlocks it from the other side. Jace immediately scrambles to grab a nearby pillow. He's in ready throwing position when the door opens, but Isabelle spots him immediately, ducks, and the pillow ends up hitting Clary. Jace's eyes go wide when the thing hits her on the face and then falls. She looks down at it, picks it up, and fluffs it a little before looking up at Jace with raised eyebrows.

"Sorry," he says as the girls enter the apartment. "That was meant for Isabelle, I didn't know you were going to be there."

Clary only nods as she places the pillow back on the couch. Isabelle grabs Clary by the shoulders and pushes her down so she sits on the couch. She's practically jumping up and down as she glances around for Alec and/or Magnus. After a moment, she huffs aggravated.

"ALEC!" Isabelle screams and Clary jumps. The boy appears around the corner looking rather startled. Isabelle's smile reappears when she sees him. "Okay, we can tell Jace."

Alec nods and walks over to her. He furrows his eyebrows when he sees Clary. "Umm, Isabelle, who is this."

"Oh, right," Isabelle says. "Alec meet Clary, Clary meet my brother Alec." Clary stands to shake Alec's hand but Isabelle immediately pushes her back down on the couch. She furrows her eyebrows but doesn't try to stand again.

"Oh," Alec says in recognition and he laughs. "Your Jace's new roommate. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Clary says.

"Okay, okay, okay," Isabelle says jumping again. "Now we tell Jace."

"Great," Alec gestures for Isabelle to speak. "You wanted to tell him."

Isabelle squeals and Jace crosses his arms in front of his chest as he begins to grow impatient. "Max is getting better!" She finally exclaims and Jace bolts up from his seat with wide eyes.

"Seriously!?" He yells. A wide smile grows on his face when Alec and Isabelle both nod. Magnus enters then with Raphael and grins as he takes in the scene.

"Oh, I see we've told Jace," he says casually as he lifts the child into his arms.

"He might be getting released from the hospital in a month," Alec continues. "If things continue as they have been."

Jace shouts excitedly and picks up Isabelle in a tight hug. "This is the best news I've heard in literal years! We have to go and see him, we have to-"

"We will," Isabelle says. "In a few weeks. For now, we're just going to go out and celebrate."

"Great," Jace says and it's not until that moment that he remembers Clary is there. He turns around to find her calmly sitting on the couch probably feeling a little awkward.

"Oh, right," Isabelle says seeming to do the same thing as Jace. She walks forward and takes both of Clary's hands so she's pulling her off the couch. "Magnus this is Clary, Clary this is Alec's husband Magnus. And that little guy in his arms is their new son, Raphael. He's five." She squeals out the last part and Clary laughs.

"Hi, Magnus." Clary takes a few steps forward and waves to Raphael. "Hey, little guy."

Raphael cocks his head at Clary but otherwise makes no reaction. Magnus adjusts his grip on the child. "I think he's sort of tired. Usually, he would say hi back." Just as the words leave his mouth, Raphael holds his arms out like his wants Clary to hold him. Clary's eyebrows shoot up and she glances back at Alec then to Magnus.

"Can I?" She asks holding out her arms.

Magnus looks over at Alec who shrugs. "Sure," Magnus says and passes Raphael over with a grunt.

Clary smiles as she spins the kid around before squeezing him in a hug. "He's precious," Clary cooes.

"First Church," Jace says. "Now Raphael. By the Angel, Clary is going to steal everything that is cute in my life." Clary laughs at Jace as she bounces Raphael in her arms. The five-year-old sticks his thumb in his mouth and his eyes flicker closed.

"You know, if you guys ever need it, I would totally babysit for you," Clary says looking down at Raphael. "He has got to be the calmest five-year-old I've ever known."

"He's tired," Alec says. "Just wait until he's full of energy."

"I can handle it," Clary says. At that moment she looks happier than Jace had seen her since they'd met. She looks... content just holding Raphael. "I mean, if you guys are going to go out to celebrate now you probably need someone to watch Raphael, right?" Clary raises her eyebrows looking back and forth between Alec and Magnus. Both seem to hesitate and Jace knows why. They don't know Clary so they don't know if they can trust her.

"I'll stay with them," Jace says without thinking. Immediately after the words leave his mouth, there is series of different reactions throughout the room: Alec's eyebrows shoot up in surprise, Magnus looks confused, Isabelle appears to be holding back a laugh for some reason, and Clary is frozen. _Huh_, Jace thinks to himself calmly, _where the hell did that come from?_

"Really?" Alec asks taking a few steps towards Jace. There's suspicion in his voice and rightfully too. Jace was never one to choose to stay behind with a child. "You wouldn't mind staying here to watch Raphy?"

"No," Jace says and oddly enough, the word is true. "I love Raphael and I can keep Clary company." At that, a small squeal escapes Isabelle's throat but she quickly covers it with an exaggerated cough.

"Okay," Alec says slowly. His eyes are narrowed as he walks to the coat rack to grab his jacket. "You do that then and we'll go out for brunch. We'll bring you back something."

"Alright," Jace says.

"Okay," Alec repeats. He pulls on his jacket and then the three are gone and it's just Clary, Jace, and Raphael.

**Guys please please comment. I love reading your comments. Like don't be shy, I want to know what you're thinking because I love you all so much! Hope y'all liked this chapter. This story is making me excited. What do y'all think's gonna happen next?**


	9. Grape Roots

CLARY'S POV

"You didn't have to stay behind," Clary says peeling Raphael off of her and setting him on the couch. She hands him a pillow to cuddle with instead. "You should go out and celebrate the good news with the others."

"I don't mind," Jace shrugs. "Besides, there's no way that Alec and Magnus would've let someone they only just met look after their new kid and I could tell that Raphael really likes you."

"Like you said." Clary smiles sitting down beside the half-asleep child. "I steal everything cute in your life." Something flutters in her stomach from the way that Jace smiles at her and Clary has to look away. She brushes Raphael's hair out of his face and he whines sleepily. "Is it too early to put him down for a nap?" Clary wonders.

Jace checks the time on his phone. "I have no idea. I'm only here when the kid's awake."

Clary shakes her head picking Raphael up carefully. "Where's his room?" Jace leads Clary down the hall to Raphael's room. She lays him down on the bed and tucks the blankets up to his neck.

"You're good with kids," Jace says as Clary quietly closes the door after they'd both left the room. Clary shrugs walking back down the hall.

"I just steal their souls." She winks at Jace over her shoulder and he laughs.

"Why do I believe that?" Jace replies and Clary has to stop herself from looking back at him again. She takes a seat on the couch and fiddles with her own fingers.

"So," she says. "What's Max like? Before he was diagnosed, what one of your favorite memories with him?"

"Just one?" Jace questions sitting beside Clary. Her mind immediately goes back to the day before when they'd been on the couch together. She quickly pushes that thought away. "I don't know where to start, Max is my absolute world, he means more to me than anything else. He's just always been really full of energy and he gets really excited about stuff like comic books and video games. I remember that when he was real little he looked up to me and that drove Alec crazy. He tried to hide it but I know he was mad that Max looked up to me over him."

"Well yeah," Clary says. "I'd be mad too if my little brother was looking up to someone like you."

Jace furrows his eyebrows though he's smiling. He crosses his arms turning to Clary. "And what exactly is 'someone like me'?"

Clary fake thinks a moment. "Oh, you know, someone who puts the toilet paper roll on the wrong way, someone who puts cream in their coffee."

"Someone who looks like Adonis," Jace continues for her.

"Someone who is arrogant," Clary scoffs.

Jace shrugs. "You have still yet to explain that ruggedly good looking comment from the other day."

Clary rolls her eyes. "I was trying to make Sebastian go away, there's nothing to explain."

"Yet, the words just rolled right off your tongue without hesitation," Jace says. Clary sighs looking away from him as he continues. "If I truly had to guess I'd say that that wasn't a lie and you were just waiting for an excuse to say it."

"Do you, of all people," Clary says turning back to him and gesturing to his... well, everything. "Really need someone to tell you that you're good looking?"

Jace's smile brightens. "So you admit it?"

"I would maybe not go so far as to call you Adonis, but you're fairly easy on the eyes." Clary sits forward and grins to herself. "But of course, I've seen better."

Jace gapes. "What?" His voice is high in disbelief. "I refuse to believe that's true."

Clary shrugs. "Believe what you may, but it's most certainly true." She glances at Jace looking him up and down just once before looking away acting disappointed. "Sorry to break it to you, but you're not all that. The guys I've seen," Clary lets out a long whistle that drops Jace's jaw practically to the floor. "Well, let's just say that you don't compare."

"I- but-" Jace stutters for a long minute before falling back against the couch with a huff. "That is not fair."

Clary pats him on the arm. "Life isn't fair, darling, you just have to live with it."

"Not if I can help it," Jace says. "I will fight anyone who is better looking than me."

"That list is far too long, you'd probably die." Jace opens his mouth but Clary holds up a hand cutting him off. "Let's see, there's George Clooney, Zac Efron, Dwayne Johnson, Brad Pitt, basically all the Chris'-"

"Hold on," Jace cuts her off. "Listing famous actors isn't fair. Besides, I could never take Dwayne Johnson in a fight, he would literally kill me."

Clary rolls her eyes. "Fine, non-famous people then: Alec."

"Well, now you're just trying to hurt me."

Clary shushes Jace and continues. "Alec, Simon's roommate Jordan-"

"What?!"

"If you keep interrupting then we're going to get nowhere." Clary stares pointedly at Jace as if daring him to speak again. He rolls his eyes but says nothing. "Good, now where were we? Alec, Jordan, Isabelle-"

"Well, if we're throwing girls into the mix too, then you," Jace says. Clary stops and looks up at Jace thoroughly confused. Did he just say what she thinks he said? She raises an eyebrow but he appears to be totally serious.

"Yeah," Clary scoffs after a moment. "Sure."

"I'm serious," Jace laughs. "Although I'm not entirely sure how much I'd like to fight you. Perhaps you could just keep the title of best looking."

"Umm," Clary has to search for something, anything, to say. She turns to Jace before just facing forward still at a loss for words.

"Does that list go on?" Jace asks.

"Well, if we're going by your standard of who's better looking than you then yes, it goes on for just about ever."

Jace raises an eyebrow shaking his head. "False, because if we were going by my standard then Alec would not be up there. I have a rivalry with him that I am not willing to put aside right now."

"Well, I firmly believe that Alec would at least be close. I, on the other hand, would-"

"Definitely beat me," Jace finishes the sentence. Clary narrows her eyes at him but Jace doesn't show any signs of joking. He seems deadly serious. "Clary you're insane if you don't think you're at the very least pretty."

"Are we really going to have an argument about this?"

"Yes," Jace scoffs. "I will actually fight you about this because I am nowhere near lying or being wrong. You are drop-dead gorgeous and that is a fact." Clary opens her mouth trying to think of something to say. That's when it occurs to her that Jace probably does this sort of thing all the time to get girls to like him. Her heart sinks a little at that realization and just as she's about to respond, Raphael calls for Jace from the other room. He stands up without a word and it feels like a weight is lifted off Clary's chest once he's gone.

She sits back in the couch and thinks over the past four days. They hadn't exactly gotten along those first few days but during that blackout, she thought that she'd gotten to know him better. At least she _thought_ that, but how well could she possibly know him after a mere four days? The thought that she might have a crush on him scared her and she didn't like it. She didn't need someone like Jace in her life after everything that recently happened. Had Simon been right? Clary puts her head in her hands as she realizes that Simon had, in fact, been right. From this point out, she was going to have to try her hardest to keep her distance from Jace.

"Alright," Jace says coming back into the room. Clary lifts her head to see that Raphael is sitting on his shoulders. "Little man decided that he wasn't tired after all and he wants to hang out with us."

"Great," Clary sighs from the relief of not having to be alone with Jace anymore. "What should we do."

"Well," Raphael says as Jace sets him on the ground. "We had a Nerf war the other day and I beat Jace."

"Did you now?" Clary smiles at Raphael and he nods.

"Only because I let him," Jace mutters.

Clary rolls her eyes. "So, you want to have another Nerf war?" Raphael nods. "Perfect, I just so happen to be an expert in this domain."

"We'll see about that," Raphael's smile widens and Clary's eyebrows shoot up at the child's confidence. Perhaps he's been spending too much time around Jace.

"I'll get the guns," Jace says and walks off.

When he's gone, Clary pats the seat next to her and Raphael climbs up. "We gang up on Jace?" She says. Raphael's face lights up and he nods. Clary holds up her pinky. "Pinky promise not to shoot one another."

Raphael wraps his tiny pinky around Clary's and squeezes. "We've got this."

"Yeah we do."

When Jace returns, he distributes the Nerf guns. The three split up around the apartment and the entire place goes completely silent as they search for each other trying to take one another out. Clary stays near the kitchen and when she hears footsteps she raises her gun. Raphael peers around the corner. The two nod to each other once before Raphael continues on. She chuckles thinking that he's the cutest five-year-old she's ever seen.

She turns around and paces to the other side of the kitchen. Just as she's about to turn around, a Nerf gun presses against her back and a masculine hand covers her mouth. Clary freezes as she feels Jace's breath beside her ear.

"Probably not a smart idea," he whispers, "to team up against me with Raphael."

Clary shivers against him but quickly calms herself enough to lick his hand. Jace gasps and retracts his hand. Clary spins on him and raises her Nerf gun. The two shoot at the exact same time and somehow both of them manage to miss. Clary's eyes go wide and then she's sprinting in the other direction with Jace on her heels.

"Raphael!" Clary calls to the apartment. "Help me!" Clary makes it back to the living room but she ends up slipping. Jace catches her before she can fall, though he doesn't give her a break. He holds onto her tightly and wiggles his fingers on her sides tickling her. Clary tries knocking Jace's hands off her but she's already losing her breath from laughing so hard. Neither noticed when the door opens until Magnus clears his throat. Surprised, they jump away from each other and look up awkwardly as Magnus enters the room.

"It appears I've walked in on something," he says eyeing Jace and Clary. He looks around for a moment. "Where is my son?"

As if in response to the question, a foam dart suddenly hits Jace's back and everyone turns to see Raphael jumping up and down excitedly. "I won! I won!" He exclaims.

"Good job," Magnus says walking forward and picking up Raphael. He glares at Jace and Clary (mostly Jace) before leaving the room.

Alec and Isabelle enter then laughing about something. They speak lowly to each other before Alec heads off to his room and Isabelle finally notices Clary and Jace. She beams as she walks into the living room and sits in the chair.

"How was your time with Raphael?" She asks and, for the first time, Clary doesn't hear some secret underlying tone to her voice.

"Great," Clary says. "Raphy and I beat Jace in a Nerf war."

"Lies," Jace gasps. "Raphael was the one to shoot me, not you."

"Yes, but we teamed up ergo his victory is my victory." Clary smirks plopping down on the couch.

Jace shakes his head sitting at the other end. "Pathetic. Taking the victories of a five-year-old."

Clary merely shrugs. "I take what I can get."

Isabelle laughs at the two. "Meanwhile," she says. "Alec and I discussed it and we decided that we should fly out a few days before Max is released then stay for a few days after. We just have to call mom and work out some details and it'll be golden."

"Awesome," Jace says. "And just so we're clear, is that more or less golden than me?"

Isabelle rolls her eyes and throws a pillow at Jace. When her eyes land on Clary, she laughs. "I'd say it'll be about as golden as Jimothy." Clary bursts out laughing and Jace throws up his hands exasperated.

"Who the hell is Jimothy?"

"You should be flattered to be compared to Jimothy," Clary says though she's holding back more laughs. "I mean, he meant a lot to quite a few people. Plus, when we finally got to tear off his nose, everybody was having such a great time."

"What?!" Jace exclaims and Clary and Isabelle start laughing again. Jace's hands go up to his face to cover his nose. "You are both terrible, terrible people."

"We are your terrible people though," Isabelle says once she's got all the laughs out. "Because no matter how much you act like you hate us, really you love us." Jace huffs out a sigh and doesn't respond as he just rolls his eyes.

**Hope y'all liked this chapter. It's honestly one of my favorites because Raphael is so cute and Clace is so cute. And yeah. Anyway, thanks for reading and please please drop a review!**


	10. Whiskey Sour

CLARY'S POV

"You are a distraction," Clary says as she sits cross-legged across from Simon on the floor of Jace's apartment. A deck of cards is laid out between them as they start their third game of Gin Rummy.

"I know," Simon responds. He inspects the four of diamonds that is face-up beside the rest of the deck before taking a different card from the deck. He puts the card he had taken back down and Clary sees that it's a Queen of spades. She grabs it and puts down a useless two of hearts.

The game picks up and the two start going faster as they put down and pick up cards. Eventually, Clary gets a straight of spades and slaps her cards down on the ground.

"Gin Rummy!" She yells jumping up. Simon throws his cards on the ground and stands too.

"Are you kidding me!" He exclaims. "I was one card away! You cheated."

"Did not."

"Okay fine, but it's still not fair!" Clary and Simon stand there quiet for a moment before Simon speaks again. "Best three out of five?"

Clary sits on the floor and starts reshuffling the deck. "You're on."

Simon sits back down as Clary deals the cards out. They're so deeply enveloped in the new game when the door opens that neither hears it. Simon places down an Ace of hearts and Clary enthusiastically picks it up.

"You have just marked your own doom, Simon Lewis," she says with a low maniac laugh. Simon scowls.

"Damn it," he mutters and picks up another card.

"What are you two doing?" Jace asks making Clary jump. She looks up to see him standing just a foot away and staring at the cards on the floor.

"Oh," Simon laughs. "You're bleeding, Fairchild, and now I know not to put down my King of hearts."

"Damn!" Clary exclaims pulling her cards close to her chest. "Thanks a lot, Jace. I was this close to winning and getting a free dinner. Now I have to change my entire strategy."

"What?" Jace leans over the couch to watch the game.

"We're playing Gin Rummy and whoever loses the most games has to buy the winner dinner at the restaurant of their choice," Simon exclaims.

"I've won two games," Clary adds. "Simon has won one and currently we are going for best out of five. I got a good hand right off the bat but-"

"I win," Simon finishes for her while setting down his hand to reveal a full house. Clary yells aggravatedly. "Gin Rummy!"

"Shuffle," Clary instructs Simon. "And really well too. Let's make this game last a little while." Simon nods as he collects all the cards into one pile. Clary turns to Jace who appears to be contemplating just how strange the other two are.

"Anyway," Jace says. "Izzy has decided that we're going out to a club tonight and she told me to tell you that you're coming."

"I get no choice?" Clary asks and Jace gives her a look that says _it's Isabelle_. Clary nods her head. "Right, but why today? It's Wednesday."

"Your point being?"

"Who goes out on a Wednesday?"

Jace shrugs standing up straight. "Isabelle, and you didn't question when we were going to go out on Monday night."

Clary opens her mouth but then closes it. "Touche. Fine, I'll come."

Jace gives her a thumbs up and heads for the door. "Great, I've got to go and do business stuff so you two just... go back to your card game and please don't break anything." Jace pauses thinking about the words that came out of his own mouth before sighing and leaving the apartment.

"He thinks we're weird," Simon says as he deals the cards.

"Very likely," Clary says. "But that's okay because we are weird."

Simon nods laughing. "Well, you're not wrong."

Clary chuckles too but her mind wanders. She can't help thinking about the conversation they'd had recently and later what she'd decided about Jace. "You weren't wrong, either."

"What?"

"About Jace," Clary chews on her lip. Simon's eyebrows shoot up and he places his hand of cards on the floor (face down, of course). "The other day when you told me that I hardly know him and all that. I mean, I hadn't exactly been planning to start up any sort of relationship with the guy, but I just thought I should let you know that I think you were right."

"Huh," Simon says and scratches his head. He opens his mouth but then closes it shaking his head. "Just, huh."

"What?" Clary asks.

Simon shrugs picking his cards back up. He clears his throat. "No, nothing, I'm just not usually right." Clary furrows her eyebrows sensing that there's more to it than just that, but she decides not to push and looks back down at her cards.

"Alright, let's play this last game so that I can get started on finishing canceling wedding plans."

Simon nods his head picking up a card from the deck. "Great, and then we can plan when you're going to take me out to dinner." He flashes a smile up at Clary who merely glares as she reaches for a card.

"We'll just see about that."

"Yes we will, won't we?"

The game progressed and they finished after about ten minutes. Clary happily won and the two proceeded to sit on the couch and watch tv for several hours. She ended up forgetting about her plan to cancel everything for her wedding. She and Simon rewatch one of their favorite shows, Grey's Anatomy, and argue about the decisions the characters make like they already have a million times. They're at the beginning of season three when their argument turns into a yelling match.

"She's doing it to help him!" Clary yells gesturing at the tv and standing up from the couch.

"Hiding his tremor could kill dozens of people!" Simon replies matching her yell.

"Cristina is a great surgeon, though, and she's helping Burke do the surgeries. Being a surgeon is everything to him. She's doing it because she loves him!"

"She's forcing him to lie to Webber!" Simon throws his arms up. "Burke needs to be upfront with him even if it means temporarily losing his job! It's best for everyone."

"Every person they've operated on has lived!" Clary asserted stomping her foot. "They aren't hurting anyone and Burke gets to keep his job!"

"Clary? Simon?" Isabelle randomly appears at the front door with Jace. They both are staring at Clary and Simon in confusion.

"NOT NOW!" Both yell back. They turn to each other and their bickering starts to overlap. As they proceed to argue, Jace walks over, picks up the remote, and pauses the show. That stops the arguing and the two turn to Jace with their jaws dropped.

"You did not just do that," Simon growled.

"You guys weren't even watching anymore," Jace says gesturing to the paused screen.

"We have seen the entirety of that show eight times," Clary says and Jace's eyebrows shoot up. "You do not pause it."

"You- eight-" Isabelle stutters then shakes her head. "Okay then."

"What were you guys even arguing about?" Jace wonders looking at the scene that he paused on. Meredith watches Cristina with concern as she usually does.

"One of the doctors got injured," Clary begins.

"And his girlfriend, who is only an intern at this point, is helping him hide the tremor that he got in his hand as a result of the injury," Simon continues.

Clary turns to Simon glaring. "'Helping' being the keyword there, Simon!" She punctuates each word. "They aren't hurting anyone."

"But they could!" Simon exclaims back.

The bickering begins again but before they can get out just a few words, Isabelle slaps a hand over each of their mouths silencing them. She glares back and forth between the two, her eyes expressing such disappointment. After a moment, she sighs and releases both. Neither speaks again but they glare daggers at one another.

"Anyway," Isabelle says starting slowly. "It's almost seven in the evening, Clarissa, and we are going out to a club in a couple of hours so it would be much appreciated if you could start getting ready."

"Fine," Clary drew out the word with exasperation. She marched off to her room not missing the way Jace snickered and Isabelle shook her head.

Going through her closet, Clary picked out a dress that she figured Isabelle would approve of. It took her just a minute to change, then she was sitting in front of her mirror holding a stick of lipgloss in one hand and fiddling with a hair tie in the other. This would be the first time that she went out since she was with Jonathon. Sure, she had gone out to bars and drowned her sorrows... a lot, and yes, she had been shopping and out to eat. This was different though because this was going out with no intention of trying to heal. Tonight she was going back to her old self, back to the version of her that was adventurous and fun.

She was scared, to say the least. What if she failed? What if she had changed too much and she was no longer the girl she once was? What if Sebastian had gotten in her head? His voice already questioned every decision she made. It wasn't far off for her to wonder whether she was even ready to live an independent life of her own.

Lost in her thoughts, Clary barely noticed when Jace knocked on her door. She turned to him with wide eyes from surprise. At some point, she had finished getting ready though she didn't really remember it.

"Ready to go?" Jace asked. When Clary nodded and stood, he raised an eyebrow. "Everything okay?"

She planted a large and fake smile on her face as she passed by him. "Yeah, I was just thinking. Let's go."

Later into the night, Clary mostly stuck by the bar. She could see Isabelle dancing in the midst of it all from where she sat. Mostly, she just people watched and drank her whiskey sour. Jace was somewhere in the crowd, she spotted him every now and then, but he kept on disappearing. The glittering lights and the twirling people distracted Clary a bit from her own thoughts. She smiled to herself as she saw the dozens of different people interact with one another. It was only when Clary saw a girl that she had noticed earlier speaking to Jace that she set down her glass and stepped onto the dance floor.

Maneuvering through the crowds, Clary reached the pair before they had gotten too far in the conversation. She slipped one of her arms around Jace's waist and grinned at the girl he had been speaking to. Without looking at him, she spoke.

"There you are sweetie, I was looking for you." Clary cocked her head. She knew that Jace was probably really confused right now.

"Girlfriend?" The girl asked glaring daggers at Clary.

"Yeah," Clary said drawing out the word. She shrugged and the girl left. As soon as she was gone, Clary stepped away from the blonde.

"What was that?" He asked gesturing to the fading figure.

"You're welcome." Clary rolled her eyes. "I saw her pickpocket like three other dudes. I just saved you."

"Oh." Jace scratched his head. "Thanks." Clary only smiled and started to walk back to the bar. Jace caught her by her wrist before she got too far. "Why don't you stay on the dance floor for a while? You've just been sitting the entire night. What's the point of having come out with Izzy and I if you just sit?"

"Well, maybe I like sitting," Clary rebutted.

"Well, maybe," he started and mimicked her tone, "you can stay out here and save me from more evil pickpocket girls."

Clary grinned. "But if I'm out here with you then I won't know which ones are the pickpockets."

Jace clearly didn't buy it though and he pulled her back to him. He started to dance to the beat and, since he still held her hand, made her dance too. She laughed and went along with it, moving to the beat. It took a moment before she remembered her decision to keep her distance from Jace. She released herself from him and shouted over the noise that she was going back to the bar. Jace furrowed his eyebrows but did nothing to stop her. Still, it was evident that he was a little disappointed she had parted from him by the expression on his face. And was it really so bad that that made Clary happy?

When the song ended, Isabelle joined Clary at the bar for a break from her dancing. She ordered her drink, then sat on the stool beside her redheaded friend and just stared.

"Can I help you?" Clary wondered aloud.

"No," Isabelle sighed, "but you can help yourself by not sitting here all night."

"I have not been sitting here all night!" Clary exclaimed. "I went over and talked to Jace for a while."

"Yes, I saw." Isabelle turned away from her. "You danced for approximately two seconds then went and sat down again. What was the whole point of you coming out with us if you're not going to have fun?"

"You sound exactly like Jace. And for one, you forced me to come here." Izzy rolled her eyes. "But I am having fun. I've been people-watching and out for the first time without the intention of forgetting my sorrowful life. I'm having a fine time."

"I think you should meet someone." The raven-haired beauty set down her drink and stood. "It'll be good for your health. Meet some guy, dance, get his number with zero intention of ever calling him. You're still stuck, it's obvious."

"Fine." Clary stood and Isabelle's face broke out into a large smile. "If I get one guy's number will you leave me be?" When Izzy nodded, Clary let her lead her to the dance floor. "Not like I could call a guy if I wanted to anyway. Don't have a phone."

Isabelle laughed, but her lilted voice was quickly drowned out as the music engulfed them and the beat hit their hearts. They danced for a while and eventually, Clary ended up away from her friend. She wasn't quite sure how it happened but assumed they both just got lost in the crowds. It didn't matter anyway because she was having fun now. Maybe it was all the alcohol, maybe it was the fact that the music wasn't completely atrocious, but Clary found herself not thinking about Sebastian or Jon or Jace or anything else that was difficult in her life. Now, she was just thinking about the hot guy that she was suddenly dancing with.

As the song faded and the next one started, the guy spoke. "What's your name?" His voice was deep and silky.

"Clary," she shouted back.

"Nice to meet you. Listen, I don't usually do this with random girls I meet at clubs-"

"Let me stop you there," Clary cut him off, "that line's not gonna work with me."

The guy nodded and laughed. "Ah, I should've figured. My bad then looks like I'm gonna have to figure out some other way to get your number."

Clary smirked, Isabelle was going to be proud of her. "Here." She pulled out a pen from her purse and handed it to him. "Don't have my phone, but I'd love to get your number for later."'

The guy, who was truly undeniably attractive, smiled and it was the sort of smile that could make a girl swoon. He wrote the ten-digit number down and beneath it, his name. He opened his mouth to say something else, but a girl-likely and hopefully his friend, or else he wouldn't have been hitting on Clary-tapped on his shoulder and pulled him away. He waved bye causing Clary to laugh. She was about to look at his name when Isabelle reappeared.

"Look what I got!" Clary shouted showing her palm to the girl. "In less than ten minutes too! Take that, Lightwood."

"I saw." Isabelle's mouth was practically gaping. "And I know what I said about a guy who you'd never call, but holy shit he was so hot. If you don't go out with him, please give his number to me or else that's just a waste of hot guy."

Clary shook her head. "Maybe, we'll see. I'm just happy that I finished your task and now don't have anything else to do tonight." Isabelle pouted and Clary held up a finger. "_But _that doesn't mean I'm going to stop dancing. I'm having fun."

Isabelle squealed. "Oh good! That makes me so happy!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. C'mon, let's dance!"

For the rest of the night, they had fun. Eventually, Jace found them and they all stuck together for the rest of the night. It was late by the time they decided to leave. The three went to a drive-thru before heading back to Jace's apartment. Izzy was tired and Jace didn't want to drive so, she ended up coming with him and Clary and sleeping on the couch.

It had been a good night, Clary really hoped for more good nights.

**So, another update because I love y'all and what's sleep? I liked this chapter and it sets up a bit for future chapter, so yay! Anyway, comment what you think is going to happen next! Love y'all and thanks for all the favorites and follows! I realize I haven't really said that yet.**


	11. Rapunzel

CLARY'S POV

Clary silently drank coffee as she scrolled through phones on her laptop. She was in the middle of comparing her several options when the door opened and Simon walked in.

"So, I've been thinking," he announced... rather loudly.

"Shh!" Clary exclaimed. Her head didn't hurt too bad, but Isabelle was still asleep on the couch. It was almost ten, but she was still asleep. At least, she had been. Clary pointed to the couch. "Izzy."

"Sorry, I didn't-"

"Know," Isabelle cut him off and finished his sentence as she sat up with her head in her hand. "Yes, clearly you didn't know or else I would still be sleeping soundly."

Simon grimaced. "Whoops?"

"What were you thinking?" Clary asked. She poured another cup of coffee, put in some cream and sugar, and walked over to hand it to the hungover Isabelle.

"I was thinking that for your birthday we could visit Luke, as a surprise. I was on the phone with him yesterday and he mentioned how much he wished he could be there for you." Simon glanced sideways at Isabelle. "And it might be nice to get away for a couple of days."

"Si?" Clary pointed to her room. "Do you wanna talk in private?" He nodded with wide eyes.

They stepped away and once the door was such, Simon spoke. "Okay, I did think that we should go to Luke's, but that's not what I came over here to talk to you about."

"What's up?" Clary sat down on her bed and waited.

"I've been thinking about Sebastian." Simon sat beside Clary. "I don't know, just the fact that he knows where you're staying makes me a little uncomfortable. That's part of the reason why I was thinking we could visit Luke."

"Listen, I get it," said Clary, "but I think that I'm fine. Honestly, as long as he thinks I'm dating Jace then he should-"

"Wait, what?" Simon stopped her.

"Huh?"

"What about Sebastian thinking you're dating Jace?"

"Oh, uh..." Clary scratched the back of her neck. "The way that Jace managed to get Sebastian to go away the other day was by telling him that he was my new boyfriend or something like that."

"So I see that everything's been going well over here," Simon deadpanned. He looked at Clary with an intense stare to which her reply was an exasperated shrug.

"He helped me out and I'm eternally grateful for that, but in all honesty, I would never want to be with somebody like Jace. He's a pretty-boy and a womanizer. He's a decent friend though."

Simon looked like there was something he wanted to say, but only nodded. "Alright, well I just want you to think about the Luke thing. We could leave tomorrow night possibly and just take a train ride. This is, of course, if Jon agrees to go too."

"Of course," Clary mumbled.

"Clare." Simon sets his hand over Clary's. "I'm not mad that you haven't told Jonathon yet. I know it's scary and it probably is better that you tell him in person."

"Thank you." Clary lets out a long breath. "I've really been healing the past week though, so I think it'll be easier to tell Jon."

Simon nodded. "Good. Because he's arriving tomorrow. You are officially out of time dear."

* * *

Later that evening, after Simon and Isabelle had left, Clary was at the flower shop working. She ran her fingers over a blue orchid as she sat at the desk with her head leaning against her free hand. It had been a slow day. So, when the bells on the front door jingled, Clary immediately perked up. When she saw that it was only Jace, her head fell back down.

"Hey," he greeted.

"Hey."

"Is Isabelle here? I thought she was working today."

"No, Izzy usually doesn't work on Thursdays." Clary would've figured he'd have known that.

"Alright, well I was gonna head out for dinner at Taki's and I was going to ask Izzy to come along, but seeing as she's not here do you wanna come? I could use the company."

Clary checked the clock. It was about half-past five and she was a little hungry. It wouldn't hurt to close up a little early, not with the lack of customers there'd been.

"Sure," she said, "why not. Just give me a minute to lock up here and I'll meet you outside." Jace nods and leaves to wait for her. Clary pauses before getting her stuff and locking up. She stares at the door and raps her knuckles against the counter. She really would've sworn that being as close to his sister as he is, Jace would know Isabelle's schedule.

Ignoring her thoughts, Clary grabbed her bag and left the shop. Her and Jace headed over to Taki's. To Clary's surprise, starting a conversation with her roommate wasn't as awkward or difficult as she thought it was going to be. In fact, the flow of conversation came rather naturally. It was nice, especially since the two hadn't had a lot of real talk over the past week. Aside from the blackout, it was all mainly just banter.

"You can't be serious," Jace was saying in between bites of his burger, "there's just no way that's the real story."

"No, it is." Clary laughed. "All of the Disney princesses have really wack original stories like that. If you think that Cinderella is dark though, well let's just say that you don't want to know what happened to Ariel."

Jace narrowed his eyes. "Tell me."

"If you say so." Clary set down her sandwich and leaned forward on the table to make it more dramatic. "You know how Ariel gave up her voice so she could meet the prince?" Jace nods. "Well, when she got her legs every step felt like daggers were being stabbed into her feet and the prince _loved _to watch her dance. Obviously, since she had no voice she couldn't tell him of the pain so she did it anyway. But the prince still ended up marrying another girl and so Ariel threw herself into the ocean and turned into sea foam."

Jace's jaw dropped. "Holy shit, that's terrible." He was smiling as he spoke though. "I feel bad for laughing."

Clary shrugged. "I can lend you my Brother's Grimm book and you can feel bad for laughing at all those atrocious stories."

"I might just have to take you up on that." Jace paused, thinking. "Okay, but I mean Sleeping Beauty-"

"You'll cry."

"Fair enough."

Clary leaned back and took another bite of her food. They'd been at Taki's for over an hour and a half but all the talking was slowing down their food intake.

"Alright, well now that's got me thinking about the princesses," Jace said suddenly and Clary raised her eyebrows at him.

"What?"

"Think about it." Jace put up his hands and Clary had a feeling this wasn't going anywhere good. "Which Disney princess would win in a fight?"

"Do you mean Grimm princess or Disney princess?"

"Disney because all the Grimm ones are dead."

Clary laughed. "Touche. I'd have to say probably Snow White because when she was only like thirteen or something she managed to run away and survive in the woods until these seven dudes came along to help her. I just think that after almost having her heart carved out and after being killed by a poison apple she's learned a thing or two."

Jace shook his head. "Nah, it's probably Ariel. I mean she was badass under the sea and on land. Not to mention, she won over a dude without ever using her voice. You gotta be pretty determined to do that."

"You make a decent point, but I feel like we're forgetting about all the more modern princesses. Obviously, it would be somebody like Merida or Tiana."

"What about Jasmine or Mulan though? Or even Rapunzel!"

"Crap, you're right." Clary laughs into her sandwich. "I think there are too many hardcore princesses to choose from."

"Well, I'm sure if we put some real thought into it we could figure it out."

"Yeah, but are we really going to sit here and argue over which Disney princess would win in a fight?"

Jace paused, made an exaggerated thinking face, then nodded. "Yeah, why the hell wouldn't we?"

"I'll tell you what," Clary said, "when we get back to the apartment, we can make a list and logically figure out which one would win."

Jace shook his head. "Now _that's _excessive."

"Whatever." Clary threw a piece of bread at him. "We should be heading back now. It's past seven."

"What's your point?"

"That I wanna go home." She laughed and stood. "So let's go."

Jace sighed but stood as well. "Fine, you elderly person. We'll leave so you can hit the hay and I can proceed to stay up all night getting repeatedly thrown up on by black-out drunks."

"Does that really happen to bartenders?" Clary asked as they exited.

"Sure," said Jace, "you did it once."

Clary's jaw dropped as she stopped walking. Jace turned back and from the smile on his face, she thankfully knew he was joking. She kept walking and hit him on the arm as she passed him. "Asshole."

"And proud of it."

The two drove home together, the air never silent as they talked about whatever. Eventually, when they got to the door to the apartment, Clary was laughing too hard to stand up straight. Jace unlocked the door and they walked in together. The laughter was cut short though when someone else spoke from within the apartment.

"Clarissa, I've missed you."

Clary's face went slack and her jaw dropped. Immediately, the smile was back as she ran forward to bearhug the man that stood in the living room. She didn't even question how he got in here. She was just happy to see him.

"Jonathon!" Clary let herself get squished under her older brother's grasp. For a moment, she completely forgot that Jace even existed. "How the hell did you get in here? How did you even know where I was?"

"I went to Seb's." By his tone of voice, Clary could tell Jon wasn't too happy. And now, she was a little worried. She released him and took a step back with fear on her face. "When I got told off there, I called Simon. He told me where you were staying and said he was going to call someone else, Isabelle, to let me in so I could wait for you. So, Clare-bear, got anything you want to tell me?"

"I'm sorry I wasn't there to pick you up from the airport?" Clary guessed even though she knew what the correct and obvious answer was. "Although in my defense you weren't supposed to be here until tomorrow."

"You know what I mean."

"Yeah." Clary looked down. "He cheated on me, Jon. I ended it. I didn't know how to tell you."

"That's all you had to say. You know I would've understood. You have no reason to be scared to tell me anything at all, Clary."

"I know," she sighed, "I know. I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Jon wrapped one arm around her. "Just as soon as I kill that bastard it'll all be okay."

"Jon!"

"Joking! Kinda..."

Clary rolled her eyes and pulled away from him. It was only then that she caught a glimpse of Jace standing awkwardly off to the side and remembered him.

"Oh yeah." Clary cleared her throat. "Jace this is my older brother Jonathon. Jon this is Jace, he's Isabelle's brother and has graciously been letting me stay with him."

"I know who he is," Jon said as though Clary was stupid for introducing him.

"What do you mean?" Clary asked. "How?"

Jon opened his mouth, but Jace cut him off. "So, brother huh? Clary's mentioned you before but she didn't say who you were exactly. Nice to meet you, man." He held out his hand for Jon to shake. The other boy shook reluctantly. He looked just as confused as Clary felt.

"Same?" The response came out like a question. Jon cleared his throat. "Anyway, I had been originally planning to stay with you at your old house, but once Simon told me you were elsewhere I booked a hotel. I should be headed off, but I want to see you tomorrow so we can start talking about birthday plans." Jon gave Clary another quick hug. "And how come you don't have a phone?"

"That's a story for tomorrow." Clary chuckled awkwardly as she started shooing Jon out the door. "Just come by in the morning and we can spend the whole day together with Si. Good?"

Jon rolled his eyes but nodded. "Good." Clary closed the door behind him. When she turned back around to Jace, her eyebrows were raised with expectancy.

"Why did Jon say he knows who you are?"

Jace shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe he had me confused with someone else. Maybe in the past when he's been in New York he's gone to the bar I work at and recognized me."

Clary's eyebrows dropped as she furrowed them instead. She thought for a moment remembering the comment that Sebastian had made when he saw Jace. There was something she was missing here. She had actually thought that Jace looked a little familiar when she first met him but didn't think it was a big deal. They lived in the same city after all and she had been to that bar a number of times. Instead of working her brain to figure this out, Clary pointed back to her room.

"I'm gonna draw before I go to sleep. I'll talk to you later."

Jace nodded, not making direct eye contact with her. "Yeah, sounds good. Talk to you later."

**So, it's going to get bad and then good! And then bad... Yay... Anyway, I hope y'all liked this chapter. Please review! I love reading your comments!**


	12. Tequila

**Warning: the end of this chapter might be a little hard to read and triggering. **

CLARY'S POV

"Am I stupid?" Clary asked Simon. They were sitting in the living room of the apartment waiting for Jon to arrive. It was around nine am. "Do you know who Jace is?" Yes, she had really spent the entire night thinking about that.

"Yeah?" Simon looked warily at her. "He's Jace Lightwood the guy you're rooming with. I'm genuinely confused by this question."

"I mean, does he look like you've seen him elsewhere? I'm just asking because Seb made a comment when he saw him and then yesterday Jon said that he knew who Jace was when I introduced them and Jace immediately changed the subject." Clary ran her hands through her hair. "Maybe I'm just going crazy or imagining things, but he did look familiar when I first met him."

"Didn't you say he reminds you of Jimothy?" Simon asked and Clary hit his leg.

"That's not what I mean," she said but she was smiling. "Nevermind, forget I said anything. I really am just going crazy."

"If you say so." Simon shrugged.

There was a knock at the door and Simon leaped up from the couch before Clary could even begin to stand. He rushed over to open the door for Jon as Clary leisurely made her way to them. Jon looked all too cheery, especially since Clary knew that he wasn't exactly a morning person. She crossed her arms over her chest as she approached him.

"What's got you smiling?" Clary asked.

"Am I not allowed to smile?" Jon threw up his arms exasperated.

"These days," Simon started, "no, not without reason."

Clary whacked Simon's head. "But really, what's up?"

"I did some thinking last night."

"That can be dangerous."

"Shut up, Simon." Jon's focus was on Clary only. "But I'm not going to tell you until your birthday. It's a surprise."

"I hate surprises."

"And you'll hate this one too." Jon wrapped one arm around his little sister as the three started heading out the door for breakfast. "But I'm sure that with time you'll grow to love it."

After breakfast, the rest of the morning was spent walking around the city. They visited all their favorite places from when they were children. Eventually, the hours passed and it was nearing four pm. It had felt like no time had passed at all, but then again Jon and Clary had a lot to catch up on. Time flies when you haven't seen your sibling in months.

"So, have you talked to dad?" Jon asked as the three walked down some street of Brooklin. They'd gone all over, taking cabs to different areas.

"Not in a few days," said Clary.

"But she did send him a really passive aggressive card," Simon piped up.

Jon laughed. "Oh, I'm sure. I can imagine how misogynistic he was. He's always been an asshole." He paused then and thought. "What would you say to us egging your ex's car?"

"I would say that's illegal." Despite the multiple times that Clary had dreamt of smashing in the bastard's headlights, she knew that it was a bad idea.

"Only if we get caught, carrot." Jon grinned over at her but she rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine. Nothing illegal while I'm here, promise."

"Thank you. If you really want to get back at Sebastian then the best way would be to just ignore him. He can't stand that shit."

"I like to make my presence known," Jon rebutted, "in fact, I love grand entrances."

"I know." Clary sighed. "We all remember Simon's twelfth birthday."

"Oh." Jon made a sharp intake of breath. "Yeah, we don't talk about that."

"No, no, no," said Simon, "let's talk about how you made a little kid's birthday all about yourself. Not to mention that you were fifteen at the time too. Talk about egotistic." He spoke the last part under his breath and crossed his arms over his chest. Of course, Jon still heard him and pushed the other boy so that he teetered a little.

"I apologized immensely. There's no reason to relive the past."

"Which is why we're not attacking Sebastian's car," Clary added with a grin. "No reason to relive the past."

"Yeah, yeah." Jon waved a dismissive hand, clearly not happy that he wasn't allowed to mess with the man. Understandably so. "Anyway, we need to discuss the plans for tomorrow, Clarissa."

"Of course." Clary nodded. "Well, Simon had a thought the other day."

"What would you say to visiting Luke?" Simon chirped. "I think it would be great to get away and see him. That way Sebastian would no longer know where Clary is staying and Clary wouldn't have to be mooching off of Jace anymore."

"Okay." Jon bit his lip. "Looks like half of my surprise for tomorrow is going to ruined now." He clapped his hands together and looked back and forth between the two. "I called Luke last night. He hadn't canceled his plane ticket yet so I talked him into getting it moved up and he's flying in tomorrow. I offered to cover the cost, of course."

"Oh, Jon!" Clary hugged her brother. "Thank you, that actually means a lot. It'll be nice to spend a birthday with him."

Jon smiled. "Yeah, and anyway it would've been stupid of all three of us to fly up there. I mean, buying plane tickets _the day before_? We'd have to be either insanely stupid or insanely rich to do something like that."

"True." Clary laughed.

"Alright, well since the Luke business is settled, let's discuss what else," said Simon. "Obviously the traditional dinner at Clary's favorite restaurant."

"Obviously," Jon continued. "And I was thinking we could go on a boat ride out to the island."

"No." Clary shook her head. "Too many tourists."

"Facts." Simon cleared his throat. "We could go out of the city? Start the day super early and go on a little road trip. Jon, what time is Luke's flight coming in?"

"Like four am. The plan was for him to come straight to my hotel and stay with me for a few hours before we surprised Clare."

"Perfect, after Luke gets here we can go."

"Where to?" Clary asked and Simon only shrugged.

"We can figure it out along the way."

"Just as long as we're back in time for your traditional dinner and visit to mom."

Clary smiled happy to be surrounded by the two people that knew her best and cared for her the most. "That sounds awesome. Thank you guys."

Jon rubbed his fist on Clary's head giving her an unwelcomed noogie. "Anytime, little sis. Now, what do you guys say we go see a movie and then head to dinner?"

* * *

It was midnight when Clary woke. She hadn't set an alarm, but somehow every year on her birthday her body would wake her up at exactly midnight. Sometimes it was a gift, but it was usually a curse. No, it was really always a curse. Nonetheless, the redhead sat up in bed and figured that she would start her day now as she usually did on her birthdays. And per usual, her first thought was to take out the box with the 18 drawings from her mother.

Clary got out of bed and walked to her closet. With her hand on the handle, she froze. She had no recollection of placing it in the closet. In fact, she couldn't remember having placed it anywhere after moving in. Trying to calm her rapid heartbeat, Clary still opened the closet and checked all of her things. When she didn't find it, she checked her dresser and her desk and her suitcase. It was absolutely nowhere.

If it wasn't here then she knew there was only one place it could be. In her rush to get out of that horrid house, Clary had forgotten some things. Of course, she had, it wasn't exactly a focused time of her life. She just wouldn't have thought that she would have ever forgotten something so important.

Putting on some clothes, Clary left the apartment. From the lack of shoes by the front door, she knew that Jace wasn't home yet. At least he wouldn't hear her leave. Hopefully, he wouldn't hear her when she came back in either.

Clary got on her motorcycle and drove back to her old house. To Sebastian's current house. She paused in front of it, not wanting to have to knock. But of course, she had already given him back her key. She did that when she threw his car keys into the ocean. Mustering up all of her courage, Clary did manage to get off her bike and walk the steps up the tiny house. She brought her hand up to ring the doorbell but found it hard to do. Then, before she could change her mind, she brought her hand down and listened to the sharp sound of the sadly familiar bell.

After a moment, a light came on upstairs. Then, there were footsteps. Then, the door opened. And before her stood Sebastian. His black hair was mused from sleep and his dark eyes lit up with curiosity and excitement at the sight of his ex-fiance. The corner of Sebastian's lips raised as he leaned against the doorframe and took in the scene before him: Clary with wide, determined eyes and wild hair. She knew she didn't look her best, she had just woken up as well and she hadn't exactly put thought into the clothes she wore. It didn't matter though and she didn't care. She just needed that box back.

"Well, well, well. What have we here?" said Sebastian. "Bored with your new little boy-toy already? Crawling back to your one and only?"

Clary scoffed. "It's come to my attention that I left something here and I want it back. So, if you would excuse me-"

But Sebastian didn't excuse her. Instead, as she tried to pass by, he grabbed her wrist with probably as much force as he meant. At this proximity, Clary could smell alcohol on him. Tequila, specifically. He'd probably had a long day of drinking before going to bed early without a shower. Typical.

"Oh no, there's no way I'm just letting you into my house. Not after everything you've put me through."

"Everything _I've _put _you_ through? Sorry to break it to you, but I think you're remembering the facts wrong." Clary tried to pull her arm back, but his grasp tightened. Now it hurt.

"I loved you, Clary, and you just left me like I was nothing," Sebastian sneered. "Moved on without a moment's hesitation. Threw me to the dirt."

"You cheated on me, Seb! You moved on before there was anything to move on from!" Clary winced when he twisted. This would definitely leave a mark.

Sebastian rolled his eyes like what she was saying was wrong or misinterpreted. There was nothing to misinterpret. "I'm a man of affection, Clarissa. Pardon me if one woman didn't satisfy my needs." Clary almost wanted to laugh. He was aware of what he was saying, right? "But even so, I've seen where I went wrong and I promise that if you come back to me today I will never hurt you again." There was some strange genuineness in his eyes. And something else, something Clary might've recognized as lust.

"Sebastian-"

"Don't you remember all our plans Clary? For the wedding? Our honeymoon? Our children?" His grip loosened and his voice softened. "For today? Your birthday, my darling. Happy birthday."

"I remember," Clary said trying to keep him in this calmer state. "But things change, Sebastian and at some point, we both have to accept that."

"Accept?" Sebastian blurted out and he released her with a push. Clary stumbled backward and held her wrist. She was right, there was a mark. "I refuse to accept that I've lost you. You still love me, Clary. Even though you returned the ring, I know you do. Why else would you be here in the middle of the night?"

"I need my things." Clary's voice remained low. Sebastian was getting loud and she was sure that the neighbors were going to hear.

"You need me."

"Sebastian-" Clary tried taking a step forward again. This time, instead of grabbing her wrist, he grabbed her shoulder and throat. He pushed her inside the house, probably without meaning to.

"Crap." Immediately, he released her and spoke. She held a hand over where he'd touched her coughing. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

Clary didn't say anything, she just glared at him and made her way to the stairs. Once she reached her old bedroom, she went straight for the closet where her box was safely tucked away. Thankfully, it was there. Clary cradled it to her chest but when she turned back around she saw that Sebastian had followed her up.

"Just stay." There was desperation in his voice now, but instead of feeling sorry, Clary only thought it pathetic.

"I'd rather have my eyes plucked out," Clary said and she fought back a smile as she remembered her conversation with Jace about the Disney princesses. Cinderella...

"God damn it!" Sebastian put his fist through the wall and Clary jumped. He was breathing heavily as he drew his arm back to him and then gently reached out to Clary. "Please, baby, please." Clearly, from these mood swings, he was still drunk.

"Let me leave, Sebastian."

"Why? So you can run back to that pretty boy? I bet you aren't even actually dating him. You couldn't move on from me that fast." He took a step forward and Clary took a step back. She was met with a wall.

"I am and I did. After what you did, I could never come back to you." Clary knew she had disgust in her eyes and she was pretty sure that Sebastian could see that too because his face suddenly went slack with anger.

"Lies."

"Seb..."

"It's all lies." He took slow steps forward until he was inches from her. Sebastian grabbed her jaw with one of his hands and forced her face to look up at him. He pressed his lips to hers in a forced kiss. Clary grimaced until she managed to bring her foot down hard on his and break away from him. The moment he released her in pain, she ran down the stairs and out the door. She was on her motorcycle before he could move.

**So, yeah. That's the bad. It's about to get really good though. And then bad again. Hehe. Hope y'all liked this chapter! Please, please comment your thoughts and I'll try to update soon.**


	13. White Gardenia

**I'm so sorry for taking so long to update. Excuses are stupid so I'm not going to bother with them as I have in the past. Just enjoy the chapter!**

CLARY'S POV

Clary didn't go home immediately. Instead, she went to the cemetery and sat with her mom for a few hours. She didn't talk to her like she usually did, she just cried. By the time that she did decide to go back home, it was nearly four. Clary's mind went to Luke, he would be arriving about now.

She crept into the apartment knowing that Jace would be back and asleep by now. Carefully, Clary removed her shoes and jacket. She snuck into the kitchen for water having dehydrated herself earlier from all the crying. When she opened up the fridge, the light illuminated everything. Clary grabbed a bottle and turned back to the island. As the refrigerator door was still closing, she caught a glimpse of a note and a box sitting on the island. Quickly, she turned on a light and walked over to it.

The first thing that Clary noticed was not the type of box it was, nor what the note said. Instead, she focused on the flower that was sitting in front of the box. It was a white gardenia. Clary picked it up, her lips parting in surprise. It was then that she read the note. She picked it up, her hand trembling slightly.

**So, I figured you have plans with your brother and Simon today and I probably wouldn't be awake in time to give this to you, so I just wanted to say happy birthday and that I'm glad you've been my roommate for the past, what? Week? You're pretty cool, and you needed a phone sooo...**

**-Jace**

**P.S. I'm not an artist and I wasn't about to try to be. Plus I figured those drawings are a special thing from your mom. I wasn't gonna take that, happy birthday.**

Just as Clary finished reading the note, she heard the phone inside the box start ringing. Curious, she removed it and answered.

"Why are you awake?" It was Jace. "I heard the front door open and then the lights came on in the kitchen. You're supposed to be asleep."

Clary was trying so hard not to cry and so she was surprised when her voice came out evenly. "Where are you right now?"

"In my room, not asleep thanks to you." As he continued talking, Clary walked down the hall to Jace's door. She opened it up without knocking and he stopped speaking abruptly, clearly a little confused.

Clary walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. She buried her face into his shoulder hardly aware of the fact that he was shirtless. It took a moment, but he eventually returned the hug.

"Thank you," Clary said finally, her voice muffled.

"You're welcome?" It came out more like a question. After what happened earlier, he really didn't know how much that just meant to her. It was only when the tears inevitably slid down Clary's cheeks though, that Jace pulled her away from him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Clary shook her head and wiped at her tears. She forgot about the bruise that Sebastian had left though.

"Your wrist." Jace lightly caught her hand and furrowed his eyebrows. When he looked back up at her face, he used his free hand to trace her jaw gently. "And your jaw. Clary, what happened?"

"Nothing." She shook her head again but this time the word was choked and the tears fell faster.

Jace held her and brought her down with him as he sat back on his bed. He kept one hand on her back comfortingly. The other hand stayed with her bruised wrist. "That's a lie. Where did you go?" When she said nothing, Jace pushed the stray pieces of hair behind her ear and spoke softer. "Clary, you're okay now."

At that, she couldn't hold it in any longer. She burst out sobbing. Ugly crying. The type of crying you don't even want your mom to see you do. She pulled her knees up to her chest and leaned into Jace. He stayed silent and held her tightly to him. A few minutes passed by before the tears subsided and Clary regained the ability to speak.

"Please don't tell Jon," was all she said.

Jace set his chin on top of Clary's head. He moved his hand up and down her arm. "Of course not."

* * *

When Clary woke up this time, she wasn't in her bed. Where she was appeared to be some guest or spare room. But upon further inspection, Clary did manage to note that it was Jace's room. At least the pictures of Isabelle and Alec and a few other people told her so. Jace himself, on the other hand, was on the floor still asleep. Her thoughts went back to the night before, or rather that morning. Clary checked the time, thankfully it had only been a couple of hours and her plans with Jon and Simon and Luke weren't thrown out the window.

As if on cue, the doorbell ring. Jace startled awake but Clary was already out the room and headed to the front door. When she answered, Simon entered without even saying hello.

"Did you tell Isabelle that it's your birthday?" he asked.

Clary furrowed her eyebrows. "I think she knows, yeah."

"Would you mind if she came on our outing with us?"

Clary thought for a moment and actually smiled at the thought. It might be fun to have another girl along. "No, I mean I don't know how Luke or Jon would feel about it but personally I'd actually love if she came. We've been getting so close lately, she's a good friend."

Simon nodded and then raised his phone which had apparently been in a call and on speaker. "Fine, you can come with us."

From the other side, there was a loud squeal. "Yay! I'm so excited! I'll be to Jace's in like ten!"

"I still have to get dressed," Clary noted looking down at herself. She was a mess.

"Why weren't you already awake?" Simon complained.

Clary threw up her hands. "We never set a precise time that we'd be leaving. We only said early and it's only... 7."

Simon sighed and pointed back to where her room was. "Go."

She chuckled and skipped back. Clary rummaged through her things for a few moments before deciding on a decent outfit. Just before she changed, there was a knock on her door. She opened it to find Jace and her heart skipped a beat. She hadn't had a moment to think about it before, but now that she did she _needed _to know what it meant that he gave her that gardenia. Was it just because of the story she'd told him? Or was it maybe something more? Although, they'd only known each other for such a short period of time. How could it possibly mean something more?

"Clary?"

"Huh?" She was snapped back to the present unsure of how long she had been thinking about that flower just then. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I was wondering if you were okay after..." he trailed off but it was obvious what he meant.

"Oh." Clary nodded planting a fake smile on her face. It was true that she wasn't okay because of what happened with Sebastian, but she wasn't even thinking about that anymore. Just that dang gardenia. "Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you for everything. Really." She turned back to her room but Jace didn't leave.

"I'm not trying to pry, I'm just wondering if it might be a good idea for you to talk about it."

Clary turned back to him half rolling her eyes. She balled her hands into fists in order to keep herself from shaking. "Well, you are prying and I told you that I'm fine. Seriously, last night wasn't a big deal. I was just dealing with some stuff at the moment. So, if you would leave me alone?" She didn't really mean for her tone to be so cold, but she didn't want to tell Jace what happened. She was a little worried about what he might do if she did tell him. He could tell Jon, or worse, he could find Sebastian himself.

Jace scoffed. "Right, okay." And he left. It hurt Clary's heart a little but she just couldn't say it all out loud. Not yet, it was still too fresh and she just wanted to have a good birthday.

So, she got dressed and then exited her room to find Luke and Jon now alongside Simon.

"Luke!" Clary engulfed the older man in a bear hug. She was so happy to see the guy who was more of a dad than her real dad had ever been.

"Clary! I've missed you so much." He smiled widely at her. "God, I'm so glad to see you. And I'm so sorry about Sebastian. Jon filled me in."

Clary waved a dismissive hand. "At least I found out now rather than twenty years from now when we would've had a whole life and kids." Luke nodded but there was sympathy still on his face. Clary tried to make her cheerfulness as synthetic as possible in order to make both Jon and Luke feel better about the whole situation. It seemed to work because they both stopped acting so tense after a moment.

Soon, Isabelle arrived and the group left. To where? They really didn't know. But that was okay because all the best quests start as adventures and turn into journeys.

* * *

JACE'S POV

Sitting in Isabelle's apartment, Jace loses another game of Mario Kart to Raphael. Although he probably would've let the kid win anyway, his heart just wasn't into playing at the moment. It was past noon now but he couldn't stop thinking about Clary. It was genuinely driving him mad.

As Jace and Raphael started another game, Alec exited from his room. He stopped in the entryway and watched the two for a moment until the course ended and Raphael won yet again. It was only then that Alec really made his presence known.

"Usually," said he, "you're better than that."

Jace shrugged. "I'm building up to my full skill level. Gotta let little Raph here learn first." The boy scowled up at Jace but said nothing.

"Uh-huh." Alec narrowed his eyes. "Something's up. What?"

Jace sighed sort of glad to have someone to spill all this to. It felt like he'd been pushing down his feelings since the moment he'd met Clary. Not even when he met her when she moved in; when he met her for the first time in his bar. There had been something about her that he just couldn't let go. Something that drew him to her. Now _that _was driving him mad.

"I like Clary," Jace spit out and Alec's eyebrows shot up. "Like really like her and it's got me kind of confused."

"You- Well, I mean- But, what-" Alec closed his mouth and pursed his lips. He didn't know what to say, neither did Jace. "Okay."

"I don't know what it is. Every time we talk I get this urge to touch her or say something to make her smile. God, she's got the prettiest smile. And at first, I figured it was nothing, you know. I kept on telling myself that I only saw her as a friend because she seemed like she would make a really good friend. So, that's what I said over and over and over, but it really hasn't worked. I mean, you know what they say that your true love should also be your best friend. And I keep thinking about that statement. Because I really don't only see her as just a friend. But in all honesty, I don't think she sees me as anything more. I mean after what happened this morning-" Jace cut himself off, he hadn't really meant to start ranting but it all just came out at once.

"What happened this morning?" Alec sat down in the car beside the couch and leaned forward on his knees. Raphael looked confused. Actually, so did Alec.

"She came home at like four am." Jace's voice was low. "And she just bawled her eyes out. She didn't tell me what happened but I haven't seen someone cry that hard since Isabelle found out about Max's illness. Then, when she was leaving with her brother and Simon for her birthday she totally blew me off like nothing happened."

Alec nodded. "Give her some time then. She's been through a lot lately." He stood up and began to leave when he seemed to remember something and stopped. "Oh, and I probably would hold off on confessing your clearly undying love for Clary for a bit. Between her still fresh break-up, you guys having just met, and whatever happened last night it might not be the best to bombard her with that information." He shrugged. "Heading to a meeting, watch Raph would ya?"

"Already doing it," Jace replied and he knew Alec was right. Clary was going through a lot, he just wished she trusted him enough to confide in him. Then again, he was keeping his true self a secret from her. Jace bit his lip as he thought. It would probably be a good idea if he told her he was Jonathon Christopher Herondale soon. Or she might be mad when she finds out. Well, mad-er.


	14. Jack Daniels

CLARY'S POV

The day had been a lot of fun, of course. The road trip involved lots of shouting, of course. They did seem some cool stuff though, of course. And now, as the day began to come to a close, Clary could, _of course,_ not stop thinking about Jace and the gardenia. The group was out for dinner now and the next and final thing on the agenda was visiting Jocelyn's grave where Clary and Jon would place a white gardenia. Of course, it wasn't going to be the one that Jace had given to her.

Luke was in the middle of telling some embarrassing story from Clary's childhood. Everyone else was laughing. Simon and Jon probably already knew the story, they had probably been there when it happened, but they always loved rehearing these things. Unless they were involved in the embarrassment. Of course.

It wasn't for a little while when Isabelle announced that she needed to go to the bathroom and instructed Clary that she would be coming with her. She wasn't surprised though. If girls didn't go to the bathroom in pairs they were in constant danger. Everyone knows what happened with Hermoine and that troll after all.

But to Clary's surprise, when they reached the bathroom and saw that it was empty, instead of using the toilet, Isabelle whirled on Clary with arms crossed over her chest. "What's with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're acting like you did the week after you found out Sebastian cheated. Quiet and distant." Isabelle cocked her head to the side. Her eyes were warm and compassionate.

Clary sighed. "I was a little mean to Jace earlier."

The raven-haired girl furrowed her eyebrows and almost laughed. "Is that all? Honey, you've been being mean to Jace since you moved in. That's like your guys' thing."

"No, this was different." Clary scratched her head, careful to be sure she didn't use the hand with the bruised wrist. She ended up telling Isabelle about her mom and the white gardenia. How she told Jace that story too. How he had gotten her a gardenia for her birthday and what it meant to her. She was careful to leave out the details of going to Sebastian's house. Actually, she didn't mention it at all. All she claimed was that before leaving that morning she had blown Jace off when he tried talking to her.

"I'm sure he didn't take it personally," Isabelle said though she seemed a little confused. "But why did you blow him off? If anything, he could've come with us today. If you wanted him to, of course. I didn't want to force my presence and that's why I had Simon ask you the way that he did."

Clary smiled and stared down at her hands. "Something happened last night. Something bad. And I was upset and Jace comforted me and the gardenia and the phone... And then this morning I blew him off and he looked hurt but I just didn't want to talk about it. Not then, not yet."

She nodded. "Tell him that. He'll understand. He's a good guy. And he seems to really like you." Isabelle paused before seeming to realize she should add more to that sentence. "As a roommate, anyway." She winked at Clary and nodded towards the bathroom door. "Let's go back before we're gone for too long and the guys get suspicious."

When they returned to the table, Jon cleared his throat and said that he had an announcement. It was only at that moment that Clary remembered the surprise he had for her today. She shifted in her seat nervously. If it was as big as bringing in Luke, she had reason to be nervous.

"A couple of weeks ago, I got a raise and a bonus," he started and everyone congratulated him. "I hadn't figured out what to spend my bonus on until I came back home to New York and found out all about my little sister's new situation." Clary didn't like where this was going. "So, I decided that I would take out a small loan to cover what the bonus didn't and buy the house that the two of us grew up in for her." Jon raised his glass of white wine. "You deserve it, little sis."

Clary's mouth gaped. She couldn't believe he would've done something so huge. Yeah, she loved that house with all her heart. But this was too much.

"Jon," Clary started. Everyone else was happy for her and applauding Jonathon. "You really shouldn't have done that."

He shrugged. "For you, it was no big deal. And now you don't have to stay with Jace anymore nor do you have to worry about where you're gonna go once your weird little rooming arrangement with him is over. I just want what's best for you, Clare."

"I get that, really I do." Clary gulped. It was a little hard to breathe and she felt like she needed some fresh air. "But I was doing fine. And an investment that big should've been discussed with me first. What if I didn't want the house back?"

"But I know you and I knew that you would." Jon furrowed his eyebrows. "Listen, if you want to fight over this then we can do that later."

"Fine," Clary scoffed and neither said anything else. It was a while before any of the others managed to speak and attempt at a conversation

The rest of the evening was tense. While Isabelle had eased Clary's mind, Jon then freaked her out again. By the time that they were driving home, it was late and everyone was tired. Still, they had one more thing to do. They stopped at Clary and Isabelle's own florist shop, picked up a gardenia, then went to the cemetery. First, everyone went out and watched as Clary and Jace placed the flower down on the grave. Luke and Simon said some things, and the two along with Isabelle went back to the car. Jon stayed for a little while longer until Clary asked him for a moment to herself and he left to join the others.

"Hey, mom," Clary started. "I know I was here earlier, you're probably getting sick of me now." She chuckled. "What do you think of Jace? I know you're up there watching my every move like you did when you were alive. So, I'm just curious. Because lately he's felt dependable and I don't know if that's just because I need someone to depend on right now or because he's really... well, real." She rocked back on her heels with her hands in her pockets. "Stupid, I know. It's my birthday, two days before your death anniversary, and I'm just talking about some boy." She shook her head. "Changing gears. Umm, I guess I've been alright. Aside from what I came to you about this morning, of course. I've been staying strong. I really miss you. Most days I wish I had you to call and tell everything to. But I've got Izzy now too and she seems to be a really good friend. It's just too bad that we never connected in the past, you know? We've always just been coworkers and nothing more. But she's really great. Anyway, I won't bore you. I should be heading back now. I love you mom, and I'll talk to you soon."

Clary sighed and began to turn from the grave. As she did so, a gust of wind blew by her and knocked the white gardenia from its spot. It hit Clary's foot then whirled around to land in front of her. She bent over to pick it up and smiled as she placed it back by the tombstone.

"Well," said she, "that's a sign if I've ever seen one."

* * *

After everyone had dispersed for the night, Clary was left alone. She sat on her motorcycle tapping her foot against the ground. Her attempt to muscle up all her courage wasn't working too well. In fact, she had been sitting out in the cold for about half-an-hour now just trying to go inside the building. It was just a bar, after all, but it wasn't the bar aspect that had her scared. It was who was inside.

Finally, Clary got off her bike and stepped through the doors. All she had to think was that she wasn't staying with him anymore. So, even if right now went horribly it would be okay because she would probably never have to see him again. Clary spotted Jace behind the bar right as that thought went through her mind. _Never have to see him again_. Well, that was an odd punch to the gut.

Shaking her head, Clary stalked up to the bar. She stood in front of Jace but he didn't look up at her immediately. He was wiping down the bar.

"Hi, what can I get for-" When he looked up, he stopped midsentence and his eyebrows shot up. "Clary? What-"

This time he was cut off when Clary leaned across the counter and gently set her lips against Jace's. When she pulled away, his eyes were still closed but there was a clear look of astonishment on his face. After a second, his eyelids fluttered open. That's when Clary spoke.

"I'm sorry about this morning. I just knew that if I talked about it then the rest of my day would've sucked and I didn't want to put you through that either. I'll tell you what happened later but you have to promise me that you won't breathe a word of it to Simon or Jonathon or anyone else." Clary paused waiting for some reaction but Jace said nothing. He didn't speak or move or even blink. She was a little concerned about whether or not he was breathing.

When he did break out of his frozen-ness, he startled Clary. Because he smiled for just a moment before leaping over the bar counter and standing face-to-face with the girl. He held her face in his hands and kissed her. It wasn't hard but it was hungry like he'd been wanting to do it for a while. Clary kissed him back. She dragged her hands through his hair and down his back. He groaned against her and dropped his hands to her waist as he pushed her against the bar. It was the moment that Clary hit the bar that she remembered they were in a public place and broke away.

Clary pushed her hand against the boy's chest to keep him a safe distance away. Both of them were breathing heavily and Jace was smiling. It was the softest, sweetest smile she'd ever seen. But she knew that what she had to say next would make it disappear.

"I'm moving out of your apartment."

**The ending was nice to write. Anyway, have fun with the next few chapters... Hope you liked this one. Please review! Oh and check out the new story I just posted last night. It's superhero fiction (The Mortal Instruments duh) and I'm really excited about it.**


	15. Purple Hyacinth

**I'm sorry it's been so long since I last updated... just sorry. Enjoy the update! Please review!**

JACE'S POV

_I'm moving out of your apartment._

She'd told him hours ago. He couldn't stop thinking about it. How could she just say something like that? Especially right after that kiss?

Jace groaned and brought his pillow over his face as he remembered the kiss. Nothing in his life had equaled that kiss. It felt more than right. It made his heart throb and his mind and-

"Ahh." Jace threw the pillow across his room. He wasn't this cheesy or stupid. So then why was he in so much pain now? All the girl had said was that she was moving out. But then again, what did that mean? Why was she moving out? Why would _she _choose to kiss _him _if she knew she was moving out?

_Because it didn't mean anything_, the little voice in Jace's head blurted out. He threw the second pillow from his bed before rolling his eyes. He truly was just a little kid throwing a tantrum. Jace got up and picked both pillows up. He placed them back in their spots just as somebody knocked on his door.

"Who is it?" Jace called as if it could be anyone other than the only other person around. It was five am for christ's sake.

"You know who it," Clary replied sounding annoyed.

"I'm busy," Jace said.

"No, you're not. I just want to talk, Jace. Please let me in."

There was silence as neither of them said anything. Jace did feel a little bad for how he had reacted earlier. Immediately after Clary had broken the news to him, he'd shrugged and said "okay." Clary had looked confused, as was expected, and only watched as Jace walked back around the bar to continue working. He then told her that his shift still didn't end for several hours and unless she was going to buy a drink or some food, she should leave. She left.

Once Jace had returned home, it was another story. He locked himself in his room trapping him with his own thoughts. Rookie mistake, but it was too late for that now. Now, Jace just needed to wait it all out. Because he was sure that if enough time went by, Clary would disappear along with all of his feelings. None of it truly mattered anyway. It was all trivial. She didn't even know who he really was. At that thought, Jace nearly yanked out his own hair. He was racked with guilt and for that reason and that reason only, he unlocked the door.

When Clary opened it, he didn't look at her. He felt bad. He didn't want her to leave and that made him feel bad. Selfish. Stupid. Clary stood a ways away from him near the door. She closed it with her back and leaned against it staying silent.

"It's not really my choice," she said after a few minutes. "Jonathon decided on the most expensive birthday present in the world for me. He bought me the house that we grew up in. I can't turn it away."

And that made him feel worse. Of course, there was some logical explanation attached to it. Jace rolled his eyes at himself.

"Why'd you kiss me?" he asked turning to her, his hands in his pockets.

Clary seemed taken aback. "I don't know. Because I wanted to. Because I knew at that point that even if you didn't kiss me back it wouldn't matter since I wouldn't wake up and see you every morning. It was a calculated risk." She smiled a little but Jace's heart hurt too much to return it. His gaze flickered to the ground. "I think I like you," she continued, "but it's confusing because it happened really fast."

Jace nodded. "I know I like you. I figured that out the moment we met." He looked back up at her and her eyes were wide.

"So, what now?" Clary took a wary step forward.

"You move out." Jace shrugged and Clary stepped forward again.

"Well, you did give me a phone for a reason." She bit her lip. "And usually when one person likes someone and those feelings are reciprocated they try going on a date." At that, Jace smiled. "So, should I be expecting a text anytime soon?" She was a half-a-foot from him now. Clary stood up on her tip-toes so her gaze was more equal to Jace's. She pressed her forehead to his and closed her eyes. Jace could feel her breath against his, but instead of giving in to the kiss, he spoke.

"What happened yesterday morning?"

Clary leaned back, her eyebrows raised. "I'm literally in the middle of seducing you and you want to talk about what happened yesterday?"

Jace suppressed a laugh and nodded. "Yeah, I do. I told you I like you but I more than like you, Clary. I care about you. I want to know what happened."

Clary looked away from Jace, all signs of laughter or joy wiped from her face. She gestured to the bed for him to sit and she sat too. "You promise not to say anything?" Jace nodded and, without really meaning to, took Clary's hand in his own. "I went over to Sebastian's." And from there it went downhill. Clary relayed what Jace figured was every detail of what happened. She didn't cry but she didn't look at him as she spoke. As the story progressed, Jace's gaze turned to the faint bruise on Clary's jaw. He wanted desperately to make it go away. By the end, the hand that wasn't holding Clary's was balled up into a tight fist.

Instead of getting angry or making some rash decision, Jace pulled Clary onto his lap. He pressed his lips to her collarbone. "If you ever need to get something back from him," he started, "please, ask me." Clary smiled and nodded. Jace wrapped his arm around her so that his hand was against her head and he had her cradled up against him. Clary wrapped her arms around his torso and hugged him. Despite the fact that he was the one comforting her, he'd never felt so safe.

"Are you sure you have to move?" Jace asked. He felt Clary chuckle against him.

"Yeah, but I'll just be like a twenty-minute drive."

"Twenty-minutes too far," Jace grumbled and this time he heard Clary laugh too.

"I promise." She pulled back from him to look at him. "It's a shorter drive than it seems."

Jace pressed his lips against hers. He moved both his hands to her lower back as he twisted their bodies so that she was lying beneath him on his bed. Jace hovered over her but Clary pulled at the hem of her shirt bringing him further down. He moved his mouth across her cheek, then her jaw, behind her ear, then down neck and across her collarbone. Clary managed to pull Jace's shirt off as his mouth returned to hers. She felt hot against him as her hands explored his chest. The energy between them was intense, especially so early in the morning, and it didn't lessen even when Clary spoke.

"Jace," she said between kisses. He hummed a response. "Jace." She moved her hands up his head. "Jon's going to be here like any minute."

"What's your point?" Jace asked as he kissed her again.

She clasped his head between her hands and pulled him away from her. "Jon's going to be here like any minute. We can't. " Jace only furrowed his eyebrows, a little disappointed. "Sorry." She pecked his cheek before pushing him off of her and standing up.

He watched as she stood about a foot away looking in the mirror and flattening her now mused hair. As she moved to smooth the wrinkles in her shirt, Jace leaned forward and grabbed her by the torso pulling her back onto him. She hit at his hands though she was smiling widely.

"I'm sorry," he said as she spun so they were chest to chest. "I just can't handle being so close and yet so far from you."

Clary had a pure look of astonishment on her face and her lips parted slightly. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, the doorbell rang. Clary pulled away from Jace again but this time she actually left his room. He sighed, then pulled his shirt back on and followed her out to where she was greeting her older brother. Jace couldn't deny that the other boy scared him a little. Not necessarily because he was Clary's older brother (although that did play a factor) but mainly because he clearly recognized Jace from tabloids, magazines, and news articles. It didn't surprise Jace that Clary hadn't recognized him yet. He did his best to keep his face out of the media. Still, a lot of people knew who he was.

A lot.

* * *

CLARY'S POV

Jon had brought over some boxes to help Clary pack. They sat in her room now, just the two of them, and did just that. Put her minuscule amount of things into boxes. It was silent for a short while until Jon broke the quiet.

"So, are you ever gonna tell me what happened to your jaw?" He asked. Clary's head whipped up. Jon glanced up at her casually. "It's faint but it's there. I'm not blind."

"It was no big deal," Clary started and she tried holding tightly to the notebooks she held in order to keep herself calm and the lie smooth. "I was walking in the middle of the night to get a cup of water, ran face-first into a wall."

Jonathon nodded. "I see. What about that hickey on your neck?" Clary's hand immediately went up to the side of her neck where Jace had been kissing her earlier. Jon smiled and suppressed a laugh. "I was joking but clearly I've hit a nerve. Care to share?"

"You know what it's like..." Clary cleared her throat as she shoved more clothes into another box. Haphazardly now. "Out at a bar or a club, meet some dude and hook up."

"I don't know much about the meeting some dude part," said Jon, "but I have a bit of experience with the hooking up." He stood and crossed the room to collect more items. "I take it this means you went out after everything yesterday? Had a little fun on your own?" Clary only nodded despite that Jon was turned away from her. "So then, your hooking up had nothing to do with the guy you've been rooming with the past week?"

Clary's eyes bugged out. "No. Jace is just a friend. Why would you even think that?"

Jon stopped working and turned back to Clary. There was a look of confusion on his face along with curiosity. "Jace is just his nickname, right?" She nodded. "Do you know what his real name is?"

At that, Clary finished packing her one box and closed it. Then, she looked up. "I think Isabelle once told me it was Jonathon."

"What's his last name?"

"Lightwood..."

Jonathon just nodded. He returned to packing and the two both went silent, but Clary remained utterly confused.


	16. Grey Goose

**Sorry I haven't updated in so long. Hope y'all like this chapter. Please review.**

CLARY'S POV

"You grew up here?" Isabelle asked as she entered the foyer of the house. She held a box in her hands and looked around. It wasn't a huge house, but it was nice.

"Yeah," said Clary coming in behind her. "First eighteen years of my life. Then, my dad sold the place after my mom died and Jon had already moved out so I got my own place as well. I've missed it here." She sighed with contentment at being back.

"Spent a good chunk of my childhood here too," Simon announced as he entered. "Lots of good hiding places in this place."

"You'll have to show me them." Clary rolled her eyes. "I could never find you in hide and seek."

Simon grinned. "And you never will."

The three made their way further into the house where Luke and Jonathon were already setting up. Jace had offered to help too but he was still out by the car getting more boxes. They set down what they were holding and looked around a bit.

"You know, I still can't believe your brother bought you a whole house." Isabelle shook her head. "My brothers wouldn't even buy me a t-shirt from a concert."

"In their defense," said Jon from around the corner, "those t-shirts can be rather expensive."

"Excuses."

"Come on." Clary picked her box back up. "I want to get as much of this done as soon as possible."

She instructed everyone on where to put everything. Boxes came in but since Clary didn't have much since her break up with Sebastian, it didn't take very long. She was going to have to go shopping for furniture pretty soon. Still, the place was home and it felt that way even without all of her childhood furniture in it. Clary did remember that she had an old family picture that used to hang on the wall in the foyer. She hung it back up in its same spot and smiled at the sight.

"You know." Jace appeared then. He was leaning against the wall by the entrance to the hall. "This place is pretty empty. You might have to stay with me until you fill it up."

Clary laughed and nodded. "Yeah, that sure would be convenient wouldn't it."

"Convenience has nothing to do it," Jace smirked.

"Are all the boxes out of the car?" Clary asked.

He nodded. "I think so, yeah."

"Great." She passed by him without even pausing. "Then I am going to do some serious unpacking. You can probably just head home now." Clary shrugged though she was smiling. Jace put a hand of mock hurt over his chest.

"Sending me away so soon?"

"Uh, yeah." Clary scoffed. "You're a distraction and I would actually like to get some stuff done."

Jace shook his head. "Fine, but remember that I got you that phone for a reason." With that, he walked off in the other direction and Clary continued further into the house and into the living room.

She was met by Isabelle and Simon standing in front of a large flat-screen tv. Simon stood more to the side of it as he messed around with some wires. Isabelle said something and he paused what he was doing to laugh and reply. Clary approached them, curious.

"Where did this come from?" She wondered.

"Luke," Simon answered. "I think Jon told him about this plan so then Luke went out and bought you some stuff to start you off. A tv and a bed frame. Sadly, no mattress."

"I see." Clary crossed her arms over her chest as the screen flickered to life. Well, 'life' wasn't quite the right word since it was just static.

"Hand me the remotes," Simon said and Isabelle did so. The girls stepped back as he messed around trying to get the thing to work.

"This place isn't too far away," Isabelle said turning to Clary. "Which is a good thing."

Clary nodded. "Well, obviously. I couldn't exactly move across the city and not be able to get to my work anymore."

Izzy shook her head. "You know what I mean. We can still hang out frequently. Which is a good thing."

"Duh." Clary lightly shoved her with her elbow. "No need to point out the obvious, Iz."

"I think it's actually closer to my place than your old house with Seb was," Simon said not diverting his attention from the television. "Hey, Clare, you think those cats still live around here?"

"Not really," Clary said, "because it's been a number of years and they're probably all dead."

Simon frowned. "Well, maybe they had kittens."

Clary laughed. "Maybe."

"If you find a wild kitten, I'll take it," said Isabelle. "Magnus _loves _cats."

"Alright." Clary nodded. "If I somehow manage to capture one of the stray cats around here, I'll give it to you for Magnus. Oh, which reminds me. When am I going to get to spend some more time with little Raphael? He's such a sweetheart."

"Oh, I know!" Isabelle put her hands over her heart and sighed. "When I have kids, I want them to be exactly like him." Clary laughed as the girl continued. "But I'm sure you can see him soon. Anytime you want to come over to my place, just let me know."

"Got it!" Simon exclaimed and the tv stopped showing static. He clicked a few buttons and the message that had appeared changed to show the news channel.

"Awesome." Isabelle took a few steps back to get a better view. Simon walked to her side.

"I haven't watched the news in forever," Clary sighed thinking back to everything that had been going on in her life lately. "Like I literally have no idea what's happening right now."

"Same old, same old," said Izzy. "People die, good samaritans doing stuff, war in other countries. You know." Clary nodded as she watched what was happening. Something that the news lady said caught Clary's attention.

"Simon, turn it up."

He did as told.

"And as everyone knows," the woman was saying, "investor and renowned businessman, Stephen Herondale will be hosting his annual charity ball. This year is different than others, though, as he speaks out about getting involved in foreign politics. His own son, Jonathon or Jace Herondale, is expected to attend and meet with the President of France in order to further Stephen's involvement with-"

The tv clicked off then when Isabelle snatched the remote from Simon. Both of their eyes were wide and nobody spoke for a few moments. It hit her then and Clary couldn't believe how stupid she was. She hadn't really paid attention to the Herondale family in the past because she wasn't a fan of them, but of course, she knew who they were. No wonder everyone else was recognizing Jace. She felt like an idiot now.

Clary took in a deep breath and broke the silence then. "Jonathon Christopher Herondale!"

* * *

JACE'S POV

Jace hadn't left after talking to Clary. He had been heading for the door when Jonathon called him over. The other boy stood in what appeared to be a dining room. His hands were in his pockets and he regarded Jace with narrow eyes.

"Hey, Jon." When the other boy said nothing, Jace felt nervous. "It is Jon, right?"

"Yeah, it's Jon." He glanced to the side. "How come Clary doesn't know who you really are?"

"What are you talking about?"

"She clearly doesn't know that you're a Herondale. If she did, she never would've agreed to stay with you."

"I mean, she didn't agree to stay with me. Simon kind of forced her to." Jace raised an eyebrow. "But what do you mean? Why would anything have changed if she knew I was a Herondale?"

"She _hates_ the Herondales." Jon shook his head. "The shit that your dad does, the way he thinks about politics, everything he invests in- it's like everything that she's against. So, I'm just wondering when the hell you're going to be honest with her."

Jace didn't know what to say to that. He hadn't realized that she felt so strongly about his father. In her defense, he actually felt the same way. He didn't accept his father's money because he didn't earn it himself and because it was dirty. Ever since his mother had died, his father had been corrupt. He knew and accepted that. He just never thought about how other people viewed him.

"Jonathon Christopher Herondale!" Clary screamed from somewhere else in the house and Jace froze.

"Well," he said in an octave higher than normal, "looks like I'll be being honest with her right about now..."


End file.
